Those Haunting Hazels
by GreTheresa
Summary: Lily has been restless all this summer. Snape had called her a mudblood. But this was not what left her numb during the summer. She wondered if her words had hurt the boy she has despised all her life. James Potter. James has spent a restless summer too. He thought that Lily Evans was disgusted by him. But he couldn't imagine a world without her. And he had to win her over now.
1. Prologue

THOSE HAUNTING HAZELS

Prologue

Lily sat in her dorm after having packed to leave for tomorrow to begin her new term at Hogwarts. Generally she would have been ecstatic at the thought of roaming around the majestic corridors of the castle that was now a second home to her. But this year however she was not looking forward to face those hazel eyes that have haunted her dreams all the summer.

 _"APOLOGIZE TO EVANS!" he roared and his hazel colored eyes glowed dangerously._

Lily had been woken up yet again by that dream. Much as she hated to admit it she could not stop thinking about James Potter especially after she thought she saw a glimmer of sadness cross his eyes when she insulted and turned him down for a thousandth time. She was definite she saw it. she was more upset about the fact that that flicker in his eyes, JAMES POTTER'S, eyes was making her feel like drowning in guilt. He was an arrogant toe rag who picked on other people AND he didn't deserve any sympathy. But Lily could not get her sodding mind off him. She didn't know if she would be able to face him and be her usual fiery self and if she could still keep up on her bantering and quarreling with him. Hell, what would she do if he asked her out again she knew she couldn't turn him down. She knew she would fear turning him down for his eyes might start a fresh episode of haunting her.

She went back to sleep hoping she would see those hazel button in a more flamboyant manner. _No wait._ She hoped she wouldn't see them AT ALL.

James lay in his bed and sighed. He'd been listening to Sirius talk about Hestia Jones, basically snogging her in a broom cupboard right before they left for the Hogwarts Express. James had escaped his best friend's reliving of his rendezvous by suggesting he should owl Jones and while Sirius was at it James had made his quick escape.

He came back in his room and lay down in his bed mindlessly playing with his snitch. His mind kept wandering but ultimately settled on just one certain redhead. He had not forgotten the way her eyes had shown complete loathing for him back when Snape had called her a mudblood and, and well James had asked Snape to apologize to her but then Lily had announced her disgust for James. James had been completely flabbergasted when she said those things to him and since then she had occupied a very major part of his mental faculties. That is more than she used to occupy earlier. The fact that Lily hated him kept him awake all night long. They were returning to Hogwarts tomorrow and he had no idea how was he going to face her after all that passed last year.

One thing he was sure of though, he had to make her realize that despite all the things she thinks he is, he loves her and will, even if she refuses him for the coming lifetime.

A/U : Will post the next chapter as soon as someone reviews or rates or favourites the story or else I'll post it anyways in a week. It's my first attempt go easy on me you guys.! Until then...And dear Lord.! Where ARE my manners.? Thank you readers for reading...


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Lily stood at platform nine and three quarters waiting for her friends to show up. She always arrived early to watch the bustles of the magical world on the station. No matter how long would she have spent her time in this part of the world she could never get used to it. Workers using magic to accomplish simple everyday tasks, apparating and disapparating every now and then with a loud pop. She loved magic. With a sigh she looked around, it was just quarter past TEN! Her mum and dad being muggles couldn't cross the barrier and have hence returned already. She sat down on her trunk and the thought of James Potter stringed its way unceremoniously in her mind. It was then that she remembered that she might come across him during the journey or hell they were in the same house, they would come across each other anyways. With an apprehensive look she craned her neck and looked about. So far so good. He wasn't here as yet. In fact no student except her was here. With a humph she rested her chin on the balls of her hand. The passers especially the workers there gave her small smiles. They had grown used to watching Lily arrive an hour early.

It was half past ten and Sirius and James were shoving their belongings in their trunks. The room was in a havoc as there were cloths flying all around their rooms.

"Prongs mate, this yours?" Sirius shouted from across the corridor and a pair of socks came flying in James' room.

"Hell Padfoot, I've been trying to find these the entire morning. Don't mess around with my stuff again!" James shouted back.

" I thought I'd get a reward Sirius dejectedly.

James snickered.

They reached just in time to board the Hogwarts Express and waved goodbyes to their parents.

"DON'T MESS IT UP WITH EVANS THIS TIME." James heard his father shout at him. He turned around and gave him a weak smile.

The moment they had boarded the train they started to look for the compartment in which Remus and Peter would be sitting in. As they were walking a flash of red caught his eyes and he looked in the compartment to see Lily chatting animatedly with her friends. She was laughing. His stomach flipped when she turned to look at him and for the briefest moment their eyes met. He quickly turned away and abruptly ended their connection. Sighing he spotted Sirius was entering into a compartment and walked in the trail towards Sirius.

Lily froze in her seat as she saw James looking at her. What made her stomach churn was how his shoulders drooped and the way he broke their eye contact and walked away dejectedly. She HAD hurt him. There was no denying that. And this particular fact weighed upon her heart like anything. She could not go on like this.

She didn't realise that all of her friends were gaping at her. It then struck her that she was in the middle of a very excited conversation when she suddenly froze mid way in her sentence as she stared out of the window at Potter.

" You owe us an explanation, you know." Alice said.

Lily's closest friend was Alice. Hestia and Marlene had become her close friends after their third year.

Lily explained to her friends all that has been bothering her all summer long. She sighed and looked at her friends' faces carefully assessing what they might be thinking. She was worried that they may think she has gone completely insane for feeling sorry for the person she has always hated. She feared that after this little revelation her friends would disown her saying she was suffering from bipolar disorder. Probably opening up to them wasn't a very good idea after all...

" You know it's okay to feel so." Alice said, ending Lily's trail of thought. Alice gave Lily a small smile.

" Yeah, I mean after all the horrible things you said it IS quite natural for him to be hurt and for you to feel sorry." Marlene added.

Hestia shrugged in agreement.

Lily looked at each one of them, sighed and put her head in her hands.

" I would apologize but given the past record of our relationship it would look quite...weird, you know." Lily said.

" Yes but given your past record it is weird that you are feeling sorry for Potter in first place." Hestia spoke up.

"So do you think now would be a good time?" Lily said.

All the three girls looked at her and then at each other.

"Yeah, I mean, just get done with it than having the guilt haunt you for weeks." Hestia said.

Lily gave them a small smile and stood up to leave.

She started towards the compartment which was usually occupied by the Marauders. When she reached she peeped inside and found Sirius, Remus and Peter laughing at something while James sat there looking out of the window. The sight of him left her heart thumping at its greatest speed. The sound of her own heart beat was deafening her. She decided that she needed some air before she confronts him. And with that she left for the last bogey of the train to get some fresh air.

James was sitting in the compartment with his friends and was barely paying any attention to what his friends were saying. James has been deep in thought ever since he saw Lily in her compartment and the moment when their eyes met for the briefest of time. He wondered if she had forgotten about their incident or if was still mad at him. The thought of her being angry with him seemed somehow unbearable for him. Sure she has hated him all these years but with 'passion' and now she was disgusted with him. His friends roared with laughter at something funny that Sirius had said. James smiled. He had been too caught up in his own thoughts that he completely forgot about his friends.

He decided he needed to get some fresh air and then he could catch on with all the fun he'd missed with his friends. With that thought he excused himself ignoring the curious stares from his friends and left for the bogey at the end of the train.

As James reached the last compartment he saw a mane of red hair. He stopped immediately, his heart beat increasing with every second. He nearly turned around to avoid any confrontations but wasn't so quick as Lily turned around before he could. He could see that she had not expected him to be there. There was a look of surprise on her face and he guessed even nervousness too. But he could not quite bring himself to believe that of all the people Lily would be nervous around him. Provably it was something else...

"Er...hi" It was Lily who broke the ice in a very not-so-confident voice.

The way her voice gave away her nervous demeanour threw James off guard. He had not expected this.

"Hi" James replied in a cautious tone.

"Good thing you came here, I had been wanting to talk to you" Lily said in voice she thought that sounded authoritative but ended up sounding like a high pitched perch of a bird. She was completely at a loss of words.

"What about" James asked.

His heart was hammering against his chest as if it wanted to rip open his chest and climb out of it. Lily Evans wanted to talk to him.

Lily took a deep breath and and looked at James. Her heart fell. He was so eager to hear what she wanted to say even though he did his best to disguise his interest he failed miserably.

" I wanted to talk..to you...about...er..." Lily broke off looking anywhere but at James. This was not very easy. She'd known it.

"Yes?" James said in a very nervous voice. If Lily Evans can not find words for something it must be a nerve wrecking thing.

"Uh...you know...er...last year's incident." Lily said it so quietly she could barely hear herself.

James had no idea where this was going. All over this summer he thought she was ridiculously angry at him even disgusted and now here she was, a complete nervous wreck, wanting to talk about that incident. All he did was hope that Lily doesn't asks him to cut off all her connections with him.

Lily carefully chanced a glance at him to see whether it would be alright to continue. He seemed to staring at her but when Lily looked closely she found he was staring right past her, deep in thought.

" What about it Lily?" James asked just as softly as she had spoken.

" You know I was a bit disturbed about the whole incident when Snape had called me a mudblood."

James nodded his eyes radiating fury at the mention of Snape and that incident.

"Well I said those...those things to you...," Lily continued "I never really meant them. I was...just a bit...outraged and hurt at the fact that Severus of all the people, who told me I was a witch, who told me all about Hogwarts and magic, would call me a mudblood," Lily looked at James shortly and then continued " I never wanted to say those things...I mean I would have back then... But now I'm just so sorry that I said those things to you. I couldn't sleep all the summer.." Lily stopped herself there thinking she had revealed too much. She looked at James. He looked as if he'd been told he's been made a prefect. For some unknown reason Lily felt her cheeks heat up. Surely it can't be because of Potter, she thought and dismissed it immediately.

James. Had. Not. Expected. Lily. Evans. To. Come. And. Apologise. To. Him.

It is all a dream. It is all a dream. James kept repeating this mantra in his head yet he saw the most beautiful thing in the entire wizardkind standing in front of him glancing at him nervously every now then, biting her lower lip, twirling a strand of her hair, which he was sure she was blissfully unaware of.

"I thought you were disgusted by the mere thought of me." James said.

Lily looked up, surprised to have gotten at least some response out of him. She thought after this little confession he might walk out on her.

"I had a horrible summer too. I couldn't sleep for hours in the night thinking that you hated me. I mean...you have hated me but...you know...I thought you now hated me like...well...you know the way we hate Slytherins." James ended his little speech with a relieved sigh. He was relieved by the fact that he made it through with his speech without getting an interruption from Lily.

"I really am sorry, James" Lily said in a small voice.

James felt his heart risking a long jump and coming straight up to his throat. But he swallowed it down before it could come out and place itself in Lily's arms. _LILY EVANS JUST CALLED HIM 'JAMES_ '. Not Potter. JAMES!. Outside James looked calm. But his insides were crawling in anticipation as to what will it be next? Lily hugging him? No. She might call him James but she wasn't stupid enough to do that.

"It's alright Lily," James spoke up finally after realising that his silence was making Lily uncomfortable "there's no need to apologize, I did act like a toe rag back then" James said.

Lily looked up really surprised by this boy. She could see that there was no glint of mischief or arrogance in his eyes when he forgave her. She was grateful that he forgave her.

"Er...thanks," Lily said unsure what to say at that moment "I should be going, my friends must be waiting for me." Lily said finally.

"Er...yeah...you should get back we're going to reach soon and it's getting a bit parky out here." James said although all his senses wanted her to stay here with him.

With a small smile she turned on her heels and left.

James thought he could die a happy man now. With long sigh he looked up at the sky, closed his eyes, and allowed himself a face splitting smile. He knew that things could now be okay.

Lily walked back with slight skips in her steps. She reached her compartment and smiled at her friends. Her smile seemed to be reaching her ears. She told them about her encounter with James and they all smiled at her. After a while of giving them details the other girls went back to their gossiping while Lily sat there still smiling like loon. She wondered why she couldn't stop herself from smiling and then shrugged and went back to staring out of the window. From now on she knew...or maybe she thought that things with Potter might not get very infuriating and things with them are going to be just fine.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading and following my story or whatever you readers do to let me know you are interested in the story. I'll update the next chapter by 24th Feb. Please review I would heartily welcome even the bad ones. Until then...  
**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

After getting off the Hogwarts Express the students took the carriages to the castle. The castle stood just as majestically as ever stoic and unmoved by the dark world outside it.

Sorting was uneventful, that is for everyone except for a certain redhead and a certain dark messy haired boy. The unexpected glances, the uncertain smiles, the relieved sighs when their friends didn't notice, ignoring the occasional skips their heart made when their eyes met.

The feast began.

 _What was happening.?!_

Lily's brain racked itself for an answer. THIS WAS UNUSUAL. James Potter making her heart flutter? Nu..uh. This wasn't going well. She admits it that it was Potter because of whom she had sleepless nights but this was going out of hands. Why was she even bothering to look at him? And despite this inner battle she found herself looking at James again. And when her heart skipped a beat again she realised why. James was looking right back at her with a slight questioning glance. Despite this, the glance was undivided and intense. She probably wasn't in her right mind apparently after having a civilised conversation with Potter. Yup... That sounded legit.

Unlike Lily who kept glancing over at him time and again James couldn't take his eyes off of her. It was unusual for Lily Evans to look at him without her usual cold stance. He was sure something has changed between them since THAT meeting. And if the change has taken place after all, he wished it was for the better. He sure liked it when Lily would give him her fierce glare, her cheeks heating up with anger but now when she looked at him with apprehension and surprise as if she herself didn't have control over her senses and was just as astonished as James was, it was a whole lot of another experience. It was as if he'd entered a parallel universe.

"Prongs mate what is up with you?" Sirius whined from his seat beside James.

James looked his way, "Sorry Pads nothing's up," James said and with a suggestive look added, "but there might be something going on _down_ the table." He finished with a smirk .

Sirius's ears wriggled with curiosity. He looked under the Gryffindor table and found Alice and Frank playing footsie.

"Oye Evans.!," Sirius shouted "stop ogling my mate and look who _your_ mate is playing footsie with.!"

Everyone in the Great Hall was watching curiously.

"Huh...footsie as compared to your snogging rendezvous.! I don't think Lily would be interested. Besides she wasn't OGLING your friend.!" Hestia shouted back at Sirius with mock haughty expression and had a hidden smirk on her stunning face.

Sirius laughed his bark like laugh at Hestia's remark and winked at her.

By this time Lily was as red as a tomato. Sure she was just glancing at Potter time and again but she wasn't ogling him for Merlin's sake. She stayed quiet for a while and then recovered. Although she tried her best not to look at Potter but she found herself looking at him again. He wasn't looking at her. He was talking to Black. Lily heaved a sigh of relief thinking now she could look at him without Potter or Black looking at or noticing her. _Wait what.!_ No. She meant thank Merlin now she could...she could...urgh this is ridiculous. _I can't wait till the feast is over, it's been a long day. I need to sort out my priorities.!_ Lily thought. Suddenly having lost her appetite Lily waited for the feast to get over.

"Pads why did you say that?" James asked Sirius, who had a mouth full of pumpkin pie.

"Fay wh...aaagh?" Sirius replied in a muffled voice with a mock innocent expression.

"I'm serious Padfoot" James said feigning a serious look.

Sirius gulped down the pumpkin pie and with a very serious undertone in his voice said, " Look James you are my brother," Remus looked up from his food so did Peter at the sudden change in Sirius's voice, "But I can't lent you my name. You are James. And I'M serious.!" Everyone burst out laughing. Even James couldn't control the smile that escaped his smile.

James sighed and ruffled his hair and involuntarily looked back at Lily. She was looking at him again but quickly looked away when she noticed him looking at her. He turned back to Sirius who had fresh piece of pie in his mouth now. He then thought to drop the matter as of now and concentrated on his feast.

As soon as the feast was over Lily had lead the way to Gryffindor tower being the prefect.

"Lily is there something wrong?"

Lily turned around to find Remus, her fellow prefect, looking at her concernedly.

"No nothing's wrong." Lily said in hushed voice trying to get her way through the crowd of first years.

"You sure?" He confirmed.

" Yeah I am." Lily said with a reassuring smile.

"Hippogriffs' tail." Remus said the password.

It was then that Lily realised that she hadn't attended the prefect's meeting.

Comprehending the surprised look on Lily's face Remus said, "That is why I asked you if you were alright, I was wondering wherever you were during the meeting, but that's alright everybody needs to clear off their mind once in a while."

Lily nodded weakly grateful that Remus wasn't very intrusive a fellow.

"How was your summer Remus?" Lily asked hoping to change the subject.

"It was good. Sirius and James had come over for a week and Peter came over after they left. How was yours?"

Lily didn't know how to answer that question so she said, "It was just fine."

"Oye Moony.!" They both looked over to find Sirius beckoning Remus to come over.

Lily and Remus said their goodnights left.

Lily exhausted as she was she couldn't believe she missed out the prefects' meeting. Probably it was the lack of sleep all the summer that was meddling with her brains. With that thought she went up her sixth year dormitory, changed into her night clothes, pulled the curtains around her four posters and fell asleep in an instant. _Tomorrow everything would be back to normal._ This was her last thought.

But while she was dreaming she saw those hazel eyes. They looked happy, serene, and warm. They didn't give her the chills they were used to giving during the summer. They made her feel more snug and safe, the reason why Lily didn't get up abruptly from her peaceful sleep on seeing those eyes. _His eyes._

James too went to bed early. It had been quite a day. The day he would never forget. He too was exhausted from the lack of sleep he had incurred during the summer and fell fast asleep. _From tomorrow things would be different between him and Lily and nothing, he wished, would go back to normal._

That night James dreamt of those brilliant emerald green eyes. Stark clear. Shining brilliantly under the sunlight. They looked happy, stunning as always. Making his heart flutter. Like always.

But in the morning Lily won't remember what made her feel safe and snug in the night and James would wish for things to change.

Lily would never want to have anything to do with James and James knew Lily was everything to him.

Lily would think things are back to normal and James...well...James as always will just hope.

 **A/N: Hey.! So here's the next chapter. Hope you guys like it, if you don't, don't hesitate to tell that to me. And just so you know I'm NOT going to write VERY DARK chapters including death eaters and stuff just a little here and there. This fan fiction is TOTALLY devoted to James Potter and Lily Evans. As always thank you for reading. And also I have my exam on the 1st of March so probably I'll post the next chapter either by 26th Feb or 3rd March Until then...byee...love ya.!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys this is the new chapter and the 'Guest' who reviewed my story and the ones who are following it too just made my day and I decided to write and finish this chapter as soon as possible for you guys to read. And for my 'Guest reviewer' : You are my very first reviewer of my first fan fiction. This also goes for the ones following my story. Love you guys.!**

 **Chapter Three**

The dawn broke in a brilliant shade of vermilion. Our two lovebirds woke up, one thinking things had changed the other hoping they hadn't.

James woke up with an air of ecstasy in his aura so much so that even Sirius, whose emotions so are badly tuned that he couldn't pick the emotional nuances of people, was able to tell that James was exceptionally vibrant today.

James didn't wait for Sirius to join him, he wanted to be in the Great Hall to see Lily as soon as possible. Sirius didn't object. Much as he showed that he was no scholar when it came to emotions and feelings he knew that James reason of happiness was singularly Lily Evans. He somehow knew that they were destined together but he also knew it isn't going to come along all that easy. He wished that today wouldn't turn out too bad for James.

Remus too noticed it. He was fixing his tie when James announced he's going down for breakfast alone "because you guys take longer than girls to get ready". Remus sighed inwardly. He knew James was a baby. He'd get his hopes too high only to be crushed by the reality. Sure he did notice the change of air between Lily and James yesterday but James shouldn't expect mountains out of this little change.

With a little shake of his head he looked over at Sirius and Peter who were waiting on him and then the three of them left for breakfast.

Lily wasn't a morning person but this morning she woke up as fresh as she could be. She couldn't exactly put her finger on what it was that made her feel so giddy. Maybe it was because she had finally gotten rid of the guilt that had haunted her all the summer. Or maybe because she had been too occupied by herself that she forgot to totally appreciate the fact that she was back at Hogwarts. It felt like she had butterflies in her stomach. She had woken up way too early by her usual standards so she thought she might take a long warm shower and head down in plenty of time for breakfast.

She hummed to herself as she stripped off her clothes. She mentally took a note to talk to Alice about the little footsie game Frank and Alice were playing yesterday. She had been completely engrossed in herself.

As she stepped in the shower she shut her eyes and saw those hazel ones. She immediately opened her eyes stopped out of shower. Why was she still seeing Potter's eyes. This was supposed to end. Things were supposed to go back to normal. Although she was relieved she didn't see the eyes she had seen all the summer in her dreams. They seemed more vibrant. She shook her head. She'd have to face Potter if she went down to breakfast but she couldn't skip it too as McGonagall would be handing out their timetables. She decided she would just have to face Potter. With that she stepped out of the bathroom and got ready.

James was growing restless with every passing moment. He was wondering if Lily had a concussion the other day and had apologised to him under its effects. What if she goes back to being her normal self again. Screaming at him if he stared at her too much. Or hexing him if he picked on some students. All he wanted was for them to be friends. Was it that difficult?

What he didn't know was that in Lily's mind it was inevitable for them to be friends. Yet it happened in a spur of moment when Lily entered the Great Hall and her eyes met with those hazel ones she had grown pretty much used to seeing. And within that mystical moment she smiled at him. Not an ear to ear dazzling smile. Not the uncertain one like yesterday's. But a small one as if to assure James and free him of all his doubts.

And it did have that effect on James. His heart soared and he suddenly felt light headed. But his spirits dropped when she didn't sit next to him on the seat he had so carefully and surreptitiously been saving for her. _It was just a small smile._ The rational part of his brain spoke and he nodded much to the amusement of his friends

Lily's head was swirling with confusion. _What did just happen?!_ She smiled at James Potter. She had had walked in the Great Hall thinking that she wouldn't even look at him but it all happened as if she was possessed by the devil itself. And James he looked so...looked so vibrant and hopeful. Surely he doesn't still have the likes for her she thought. _Well he never had the likes for you. You were just a trophy for him._ Somehow the thought felt unsettling to her. _Well that is the truth.!_ She had expected for the things to go back to normal but apparently this wasn't the case. But she will make them go back to normal like nothing ever happened, she thought. _Ignore Potter._

The day seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. Ever since the Great Hall incident Lily had not as much as glanced in the general direction of James. When James had finally gone up to her potions table to borrow some beans she had busied herself with stirring the potion at his sight and asked Alice to help him out. What suddenly caused a change in the air James couldn't put his finger on but he was sure it eating him on the inside.

After their last class they had gone out in the fields to enjoy the pleasant weather. James was not in a mood to play pranks and was sitting under the famous marauders' tree beside the lake. Scarlett Clearwater walked by and sat beside James. Too close to him. James looked at her and smiled. She was one stunning looking girl. Big chocolate brown eyes and hair that matched the colour. She was tall and had an athletic built. James had been on a few dates with her in their fifth year and had enjoyed her company.

"Upset about something?" She asked in her silky voice.

"Nothing. Been wondering where you've been." James said with a smirk that he knew worked so well on girls.

Scarlett laughed throwing her head back smacking James playfully on the arm. They then got into talking with each other and soon after left the scene for their snogging rendezvous.

Someplace a little far from the tree where James had been sitting, Lily observed the little scene where James and Scarlett were talking, touching each other, James making her laugh like that. Whenever Scarlett touched James a knot would form in Lily's stomach. She couldn't bear to look at those two. She couldn't understand what she had been feeling all through the summer then these two days. She wanted to comprehend her own feelings but then again she was afraid what she might find down there.

James came back from the third floor broom cupboard and said his goodbye to Scarlett. He seemed to have enjoyed their little snogging session but had been a bit disturbed when Scarlett had tricked him into saying yes for this year's first Slug Club dinner. He had other plans but now he had to go with her.

Lily was walking down the corridor towards the Gryffindor tower and out of the corner of her eyes she saw James coming up from the stairs on her left. He then turned right walking directly in front of her.

James saw Lily walking towards the tower. He was looking straight at her but all the while she didn't meet his eyes. When Lily passed him and turned round the corner, a fit of anger seized him and he kicked the nearest wall. Good thing I said yes to Clearwater, there are plenty of girls other than _her._ He thought and with that thought he went back to the tower.

Lily was sitting in one of the chairs beside the fire pretending to read while her mind kept swirling with thoughts of James. She looked around and just at that moment James climbed through the portrait hole looking straight at her with fury evident in his eyes and before Lily could look away, he did, and with such a feigned indifference that Lily's heart sunk down to her stomach.

She did not wait for dinner and went straight to bed.

James on the other hand seemed to have enjoyed the dinner as Scarlett had joined him at the Gryffindor table and the rest of his mates had to put up with a lot of public displays of affection. Although his eyes seemed to be searching for Lily his mind kept telling him to pay attention to the girl sitting beside him.

That night James went to bed in the same mood he'd gone to bed all the past five years at Hogwarts. Every morning he would wake up and tell himself that he would win over Lily that day. But somehow he would end up mucking up things with her and then she would ignore him the rest of the day. He would lay in his bed telling himself she is just another girl and there are plenty of them to snog around. But the moment he would close his eyes the mane of red hair would come into view. The hearty warm giggle would reverberate in his ears. The emerald green eyes would shine as brilliantly as ever. And in a moment of realisation James would smile and think that no matter how many girls there might be in the world but they can't make his heart forget the only one it truly belongs to. Tonight was no different.

That night James knew that things were the same. But he also knew that he'd have to change them.

And that night Lily slept with one thought. _Things aren't going to be same anymore._ And this time she desperately wanted to be right. No. She _needed_ to be right. She smiled herself to sleep.

That night Lily dreamt of those hazels again. But this time she would remember them. And she would also remember how they made her feel.

That night James dreamt of Lily as always.

 **A/N: I will post the next chapter by 3rd of March. Thanks for reading. Byee..love you guys..**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The week had gone by in a rush of unfamiliar excitement bubbling in the air experienced by our Romeo and soon-to-be 'convinced' Juliet.

Ever since she had gone to bed that night thinking that things won't be the same again, she was right, they hadn't. So she decided what was best. To go along with the flow. And this flow made her do things which, a few months ago, she would have thought unnatural. Now whenever she would walk past that lean muscular body to which those hazels eyes belonged she couldn't look away. She would stare right back into them. Not in the hostile manner she was used to. But a magnetic stare which would travel down to her belly button and tug at her. Neither James nor Lily would look away first. It wasn't like the old times when they would get into a staring contest after a heated argument and wait for the other one to look away first. Now they wouldn't want the _other_ one to look away.

However the only time she wouldn't look his way was when the Clearwater girl would be around him touching him or laughing at his words.

And since she couldn't see them she didn't notice just how much James got shifty and how much he wanted to tell Lily that Scarlett didn't matter. In those certain moments James could swear he would move heaven and earth just to see those brilliant green eyes staring into his hazel ones again.

James was no fool. He had noticed this changed demeanour of Lily the very next morning of that night. She had smiled at him in the Great Hall. Not the uncertain one or the smile at which she looked surprised as well. But there was this calmness in her eyes, the way her eyes just rested, in every sense of the word, on his, as if they belonged there. Since that day she would smile at his incoherent jokes, of course which didn't harm anyone, she would look at him practising his transfiguration spells and would do every other thing to confirm his doubts. Things HAVE changed. This time James didn't rush to conclusions. He observed this for two days and relaxed a bit. However there was another thing he noticed. Lily would practically avoid looking towards him whenever Scarlett would be around. Picking on the vibes James would try and shoo Scarlett off as politely as possible but she was way too clingy. She had helped him out in the third year and he was grateful for that because of which he thought he would wait until the first Slug Club dinner and tell her about Lily and finally get her off his back.

As soon as Scarlett would leave Lily would, that is after a while, look at James and their eyes would lock together again. It was kind of an unspoken agreement between them. They had grown to sensing each other's wants without communicating.

The moment Scarlett would see James getting shifty and irritable she would back away from him saving herself from his coming wrath. What made him so irritable she didn't know but being a Ravenclaw she was determined to find out. What she didn't comprehend was exactly how would she find it out.

 _It happened in the Transfiguration class on Friday._

The Gryffindors had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws that day. Lily had been sitting at the third last bench having arrived late. James was sitting with Sirius two rows ahead of her on the right. Scarlett was right behind James. When professor McGonagall asked them to practice their spells Lily for the very first time was not at all enthusiastic. Instead she was watching James who had his wand out and was showing Scarlett a complex piece of magic by balancing all the scrape parchments into some structure. Lily recognised it to be that day's charms homework.

Then a sudden thought struck her. Her body acted on its own accord and she, ever so slowly approached James desk. James was just handing the little complex structure to Scarlett that he saw Lily coming towards him looking straight at him her gaze undivided. He looked at her and waited for her to speak, the structure wavering a little.

"Could you show me how to do the spell I just can't manage to get hold of it." Lily said in a very very soft voice which seemed to caress James ears ever so faintly.

And within a moment James was on his feet completely forgetting about the structure and Scarlett. And as James rose the structure fell into Scarlett's lap and the ink on those parchments somehow seemed to have seeped out of the parchment under the spell. Scarlett let out a yelp and called for James but James had just stepped into paradise when Lily held out her wand in her hand and let James hold her hand to show the spell. But neither gave a crap about the spell. In that moment sparks lighted up where their skins touched. James brought his forearms close to Lily's and she didn't object instead she was so lost in that moment that she closed that gap and touched James' forearms with hers. James was standing behind her and moved closer to Lily lowering his head and taking in her scent. Her hair smelled of roses. Lily who wanted to get as close to James as possible leaned back a little feeling the warmth of his body shrouding her petite figure his other hand slightly brushing the small of her back. He smelled of forest and chocolate and cinnamon.

Their bubble burst open when the bell sounded and everyone got up and there was commotion all around. James and Lily sprung apart. Looking anywhere but at each other. Then in a small voice Lily broke the silence, "Thanks." By the time she said it she was blushing furiously.

And just somehow James thought that she thanked him for not letting her down in front of Scarlett. For choosing her over Scarlett. _Well of course I'd choose her,_ he thought, _she'd be insane if she thought I would choose any other girl over her._

Lily felt James look right through her, all the way to her soul when she thanked him. She had thanked him for choosing her over Scarlett he seemed to have noticed it. He confirmed it by saying, "Anytime" looking straight at her without any hesitation as if it was an order.

Sitting behind her desk Professor McGonagall watched this little exchange between Lily and James and very very discreetly allowed herself a victorious smile. It won't be long before Dumbledore will have to give her some 50 Galleons over their bet.

That night dinner in the Great Hall was a quiet affair. Nobody spoke much except for occasional 'pass the potatoes'. Scarlett did not come over to join James on the Gryffindor table much to the relief of Sirius, Remus and Lily. James couldn't be more happier. Although he looked calm on the outside his head was swirling with the sensations he could still feel where Lily's skin had touched him. He could still smell her scent on him which he was sure will drive him insane anytime now. Lily hadn't so much as glanced in his direction but it didn't bother him this time. He too couldn't bring himself to look at her or else he wouldn't be able to control himself. And for this reason he didn't blame Lily for trying to avoid his eyes for he was sure she had felt something just as strong as he had.

Lily couldn't look at James without having her heart practicing aerobics at the most inappropriate of times. All she had thought about 'things changing' wad that she and James might become friends. But this isn't how being friends should feel. Why did she want him to look at her. Why did she want him to choose her over other girls. Such questions kept swarming in her mind. She was helpless. She had stopped her fight against herself and had decided to go along with the flow. But she felt an undercurrent in that flow. Before she could make any more assumptions she felt Alice tugging at her sleeves. She looked around to see just a small number of students sitting around and that the dinner was over.

" Marlene and Hestia have already left and I was wondering if it is alright if I go with Frank?" Alice asked a bit too shyly. Lily smirked at her and told Alice it was fine by her. Alice rolled her eyes and left. Lily got up and slightly apprehensive, looked around for James. But he had already left. She breathed a sight of relief and started walking towards the Gryffindor tower.

In her way she met Scarlett who looked as if she was waiting for her to arrive. She kept looking at Lily. After a moment of hesitation Lily smiled at Scarlett. Seeing this as the right moment Scarlett walked over to Lily with a smile pasted on her face.

"Hey" Scarlett said.

"Hi"

"I was wondering if you would be coming for the Slug club dinner tomorrow." Scarlett asked Lily.

" Yeah I think so. I might come although I really don't want to, you know."

"Yeah I understand, nothing could be more monotonous than those dinners," Lily nodded "will you be bringing someone with you?" Scarlett asked her.

"Er...no I don't think so. It'd be a wonder even if just I turned up let alone any date." Lily answered with a hesitation in her voice.

"Ohh... I thought I might save you from some humiliation, you know, just in case you were going to ask James because he's going with me." Scarlett finished with a triumphant smirk on her face. And before she could think of anything to say Scarlett walked away.

Lily didn't know just how long she stood tere transfixed at the spot. When she found her energy to move she started towards the Gryffindor tower. This little conversation had enough power to rob Lily of all those emotions she had felt the entire day. She felt so deflated right now that she didn't bother looking where she was going. She let her instincts guide her the way to the tower.

As she climbed through the portrait hole it was quiet in the common room she noticed. There were a lot of seventh years sitting around finishing their assignments and essays. And then her eyes landed on James. She was about to look away but just then he turned and looked at her.

James had asked his friends to stay a bit longer in the common room for no apparent reason. But his friends knew he was waiting for Lily to come. And she did. Moments later James and Lily's eyes met and James couldn't help but feel as if her emerald green eyes looked dead. But before he could look closely her eyes returned his stare with the same hypnotic gaze. And he felt his heart swell in his chest. He didn't seem to realise how long did they keep looking at each other like that before she dropped her gaze to the floor and left for her dormitory.

Sirius and Remus noticed this exchange and caught each other's eyes. With a knowing smile they looked at James.

" Now that you have taken your night dose, Prongsie, is it alright if we go to our beds. I'm real sleepy." Sirius said with a smirk on his handsome face.

"Shut up Padfoot." James said and with that he got up so did Remus and Sirius and went to their dormitory.

 _Just tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll get rid of the Clearwater woman and start off a new chapter with Lily._

Lily went to bed in a very confused state of mind. _If James was going to that dinner with Scarlett why does he let me on as if he really cares about me and what I want._ But she HAD seen that spark in James eyes when she had looked at him. And she wished it to be true. _Tomorrow is going to be long day._

 **A/N: Hey guys this is the new chapter hope you guys like it. And now I REALLY HAVE TO STUDY FOR MY EXAMS.! But I just always find myself writing fan fiction. Anyways thank you so much for reading. I might update the next chapter by the 3rd of March. Until then...byee...love you guys.**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Saturday came along with a buzzing day lit with bright sunlight. The marauders sat beneath the tree passing their time occasionally commenting on a certain way a Slytherin walked or the girls who'd be willing to snog them without any emotional hullabaloos.

James was however, thinking about today, both reluctant of the day and also looking forward to it. He peered around wondering whether Lily had come out as yet. He knew she loved such bright days and wouldn't miss it in hell's chance. But he couldn't see her anywhere. Sighing he brought his attention back to his friends.

Lily had slept in. All of her friends were gone when she woke up. The room was lit up by the dazzling sunshine. She got up and looked out of the window. She smiled to herself and hugged herself. _It's such a beautiful day._ She thought and then went to shower. As soon as she got out it struck her that today was the first Slug Club dinner. And then one by one all the memories came relaying to her. Scarlett...James. She sighed and looked out. She really did want to go out and she would. But she just hoped she wouldn't encounter Scarlett on her way. She took the book she had recently been reading and went downstairs. As she reached the grounds she found Alice, Frank, Hestia and Marlene. She approached them and sat down with them. After joining Marlene and Hestia in teasing Frank and Alice Lily felt a lot light headed. When she emerged from the current fit of laughter she was having she very apprehensively looked around. She caught James sitting under the infamous marauders' tree with Sirius and Remus and Peter laughing about something too. This made her smile for a reason unknown to her. She also noticed Scarlett was nowhere to be seen. She then glanced down looking at her crossed legs.

"So Lily, you going for the dinner today then?" Frank asked.

"I don't want to." Lily said shaking her head slightly.

"But you will! You can't skip it again, why are you suddenly avoiding any social contacts.?" Alice said.

"I don't know but yeah I guess I'd have to go this time." Lily replied weakly.

With a really long sigh she laid her head on Marlene's arm and started reading her book.

The day went along smoothly well except that Lily and James didn't come across each other even once. The marauders had decided to have all the meals in the kitchens today so they did not even come down for breakfast or lunch.

Before Lily could tell it was already half past five. She groaned at the thought that she'd have to get ready. She hated such stupid things. Wearing dresses, putting on make up. With a quick sigh she got up and decided on wearing a forest green boat neck blouse which ended just above the hem of her above-the-knee length black organza skirt. She after having struggled with her hair to put it in a delicate knot decided to leave it down. Satisfied, she sat down waiting for the clock to strike 7.

As soon as it was 7 she got up said her good byes to her mates and left. As she came around the entrance of professor Slughorn's office she found Scarlett waiting for James. She did look stunning. With her long legs and slender arms, in a dress that accentuated her tiny waist. Scarlett had her back to Lily so Lily sneaked a peek at herself thinking she could have done justice to her petite figure by getting dressed in something that made her look beautiful. She wondered if she looked more appealing than Scarlett. _Would James think I am just plain looking girl after he sees me like this._ She thought and suddenly clapped her hand to her mouth at that weird thought. But that didn't end there. Her mind told her that she had quite beautiful eyes and thankfully she remembered to apply some kohl and mascara to them with a slight lip gloss. Worried she saw Amos walked out from behind her and look at her.

"Wow Lily, planning on flattering some guy today huh?" He said.

"What?"

"Just saying, if you want a guy, go to him today like this and he might just end up popping you the question." He said and chuckled and then left.

Lily saw him entering the office and wondered why she still standing here. With that she walked quite confidently. When she passed Scarlett she couldn't tell what came upon her and said, "Seems like your date wasn't really keen on meeting you tonight." And with a smirk she walked past her into the office. _That was so mean and bitchy and girly._ Lily thought. But she couldn't help feeling happy over the fact that she got back at Scarlett for being a bitch herself. Marlene too was invited and Lily saw her waving at her from the table where drinks were kept.

"Why isn't everyone eating on that round table?" Lily inquired.

"You weren't here for the last meeting, were you? Slughorn said that he has so many 'jewels' in his club now that they couldn't fit in the round table arrangement."

"So buffet, is it?" Lily asked with a smile.

"Yeah." And they both chuckled

Out of the corner of her eye Lily saw James and Scarlett approach them. Lily quickly grabbed a drink and sensing her hesitation Marlene did the same.

"It's alright Lily, don't get so worked up."

When James and Scarlett reached the other side of the table Lily didn't miss the way his eyes roamed over Lily's body starting from the bottom, up towards her knees stopping at her collar bone, lingering at her lips and finally locking with her eyes. By this time both were slightly breathless, their heart pumping at its greatest speed as if wanting a release from its cage. Lily was flushed from beneath her neck up to her cheeks feeling exposed. And they both kept looking into each other's eyes unravelling the depths of this particular encounter, their breathing slightly heavy.

"James?" Scarlett purred from beside him very aware of her date looking at his sweetheart.

"Hmm?" James said mindlessly tilting his head in Scarlett's direction without looking away from Lily.

"James!" She said with authority now and a little agitated with him.

James' head whipped around to see Scarlett straight in her eye. He was irritated and didn't mind showing this to Scarlett. Scarlett quickly recovered from the sudden reaction from James and asked, "Do you want to taste this drink it is divine.", batting her eyelashes at him.

James tried grabbing the glass from the table when she slightly caught his arm and put it at the back of his neck to bring his face closer to her. James faked a cough and said "sorry". He back at Lily worried that she might have left but was surprised to see she was standing there watching this with an amused smile on her face. James smiled at her too and then gave her a mock annoyed expression making her laugh out loud. James felt like he'd been made the captain of of Holyhead Harpies when he saw Lily amused at him and Scarlett and even more so when he made her laugh. _Why couldn't life just be like this._ James saw Lily telling Marlene to try out the drink Scarlett said was 'divine'. He noticed Lily was in a very amused mood and laughed her lungs out when Marlene scrunched up her face and made a puking gesture after trying that drink.

"Will you stop looking at her now please?" Scarlett said with her teeth clenched. It was almost over 8 and people were leaving for their dorms. All throughout the dinner Scarlett had tried to kiss James in front of Lily but James turned her down abruptly and rudely everytime. As much as Scarlett knew she was fighting a losing battle she just want to get back at Lily for that rude comment Lily had passed in the entrance of the office. Throughout the dinner she had noticed James and Lily conversing with their eyes and that victorious smile on Lily's face when she noticed Scarlett looking at her ready to dig daggers at Lily.

"Why, does it bother you?" James lashed on her feeling irritated now. Much as he was sorry for turning Scarlett's advances down, his patience was now wearing down.

"Yes it bothers me if my date is practically goggling another girl by the looks of it." She said feeling equally irritated.

"Well then no one asked you to stay." James said. _At last._ He thought.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I don't want to be with you. I thought you being a Ravenclaw would figure it out that it isn't you I wanna be with but I guess the sorting hat has its own share of faults.!" James finished.

"Well I couldn't help if you have such a crap taste in girls."

" Mind your tongue, at least she isn't the school renowned slut unlike you." James said that a little too loudly that nearly half the room was staring at the pair of them. Lily was under Slughorn's firm grip as he was introducing her to some Ministry official.

"You are pathetic Potter."

"If trying to win me over by saying that then it's real pity, cause it sounds hot only when Evans says it." James said with a smirk on his face. It earned him quite some wolf whistles and applaud. Scarlett didn't wait for another moment and left immediately.

He looked around and saw that Lily was still stuck with Slughorn. Marlene who'd seen the entire scene approached James. Seeing her come James straightened himself up.

"You really do like her a lot, don't you?" Marlene asked. She was the keeper of the Gryffindor quidditch team and was pretty warm friends with James too. Their parents worked together in the Ministry.

"No.!" James said shell shocked.

"I'm talking about Lily you dork." Marlene said rolling her eyes.

"Ohh...her...Lily...yeah..I mean...yeah I like her." James said a little embarrassed and flustered.

"You may try being all macho but when it comes to Lily you go weak in you knees and don't you dare deny that." She added when she saw James protesting.

"Yeah I mean I do like her a lot, maybe too much."

"Then take it slow with her James, because you know you have liked her since your earliest memories of her and it's clear to you and there's no confusion or conflict going on with you. But Lily, she has despised you from _her_ earliest memories of you. And all of a sudden she felt sorry for you, keeps glancing at you. I don't know what she keeps thinking these days but at least you could imagine the inner conflict she must going through. Hating someone then having feelings for them?" She finished and looked at James.

He was looking at Lily, still with Slughorn, trying to force smiles. And then he looked at Marlene.

"Thanks. I'm glad you talked some sense into me. I was going to ask her out today." James said dumbly.

"Don't do that as yet. Get her to come around you." Marlene said smiling and shaking her head slightly.

"Yeah...yeah..I'll do that."

Lily finally freed herself from Slughorn's web and walked over to where Marlene was standing. On noticing James beside Marlene, she became a little self conscious.

"Long meeting, was it?" James asked and Lily looked up at him.

"Yeah..yeah...pretty long." She replied.

There was an awkward silence where the fact didn't escape them both that this was the first time they were conversing with each other directly after the Hogwarts Express incident.

"Should we leave?" Lily suggested not bothering where Scarlett had suddenly disappeared on the contrary quite relieved by it.

"Yeah..it's time we did." James said.

"You guys leave I have to talk to Johnson about our potion's assignment." Marlene said and left immediately before Lily could stop her.

James and Lily looked at each other and then Lily shrugged. Saying their not so short goodbyes to Slughorn they left and started walking towards the Gryffindor tower.

Lily found herself laughing and giggling and walking way too freely, swinging her arms around as she talked to James about how stupid she finds Slughorn's classes. This was the liveliest she had felt ever since the beginning of this year's summer. She felt so comfortable in his presence but not very comfortable when he would turn sideways and look at her. It would make her blush. She was thankful that she'd left her hair down as she used them as a veil to cover face whenever she blushed.

James was having the time of his life when he saw Lily talking to him without screaming in anger at him. He couldn't believe his luck. There were butterflies and every possible fluttering little thing in his stomach. Although he got frustrated when he would look at Lily and she would suddenly stop talking and would hide her face behind her hair all the while looking down.

When they got inside the common room they stood there unsure of what to do.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" James asked.

"Nothing probably just completing the transfiguration essay."

"We'll have a quidditch practice tomorrow, come and watch it?"

Lily looked up at him but didn't find the usual arrogant smirk on his face instead he looked quite earnest in his request.

"At what time?" She asked.

"Six."

"Okay if I'm able to complete my homework I might stop by." Lily said and she did feel a bit excited.

"Yeah?..great...that's just...great..yeah so see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah." Lily said smiling a little, staring back into those hazel eyes which were shining with childish excitement as if Christmas has arrived early.

"Goodnight." James said.

"Goodnight."

Neither of them made any attempt to move away and stood there frozen to the spot staring into each other's eyes. They didn't know just how long they stood there until they heard the portrait hole creek open and jerked back from each other a bit. Marlene climbed out of it, pretending not to have noticed them went straight up to the dormitory.

"I should be going." Lily said.

"Yeah." James said and with a little more difficulty in turning their backs at each other, they left for their dorms.

Both of them were so much engrossed in their reveries and reliving tonight's moments that they hardly bothered changing their clothes or brushing their teeth or taking their shoes off. They just climbed in their beds with no scary or vague thoughts. Rather they both slept with each other's _memories._

 **A/N: This is the new chapter hope you guys like it. My 'guest' I love you.! And all those who followed me or my story or favourited this story I love you guys too. My next exam is on 18th March so you can pretty much expect frequent updates and I guess I will update the next chapter by 4th or 5th March. Until then...byee...love ya all.**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Sunday came around bringing with it a nice sunny day with slight cool breeze. _A perfect day to play quidditch._ James thought. It was the first time that he was more excited about something else than just practising quidditch. If he was lucky enough Lily might finish her homework early and turn up for seeing him at practice. Hell if he was lucky she might talk to him on their way back to the castle.

"Seriously James, stop zoning out so much, what is up with you mate?" Sirius asked James. They were discussing about some prank they planned to pull at the Halloween dinner. Remus was listening but was engrossed in his book. Peter as usual was listening obediently to Sirius. But James couldn't keep his mind off of the probabilities the day might bring.

They were sitting in one of the empty classrooms that had it's windows opening to the grounds from where it led to the library. No need to mention that James had chosen the spot. He wanted to know how long Lily would be in the library to calculate the possibilities that she might just turn up for the practice. So far he didn't see her heading towards the library. Normally nine in the morning would be an awfully early time to go to the library but knowing Lily he was sure she would turn up by ten and practically spend the entire day there although he hoped she would spend the rest of the day with him.

Just as he was about to turn to talk to Sirius he saw a mane of red hair and whipped his head in that direction. _Maybe she too is excited about today._ James thought but dismissed it immediately not wanting to go through the disappointment.

Sirius followed James gaze to the window and saw Lily walking to the library. _It was awfully early in the morning to go to the library._ He thought. But it was Lily Evans. But he didn't miss the way James turned his head in her direction. Normally he would glance at her in a very sneaky manner so none his friends would know. But today was different. It was as if he was expecting something from her. It was then that Sirius remembered all those gossips going around the school about the Slug Club dinner last night.

"Tell me Prongs, is it true that you made a snide remark about Scarlett last night and something about how something sounds _hot_ only when our dearest Evans says it." Sirius said and snickered. Even Remus looked up from his book and raised his eyebrows at James. James flushed and nodded quietly.

"How come you know about _that?!"_ James asked.

"I was with Hestia this morning. Apparently McKinnon had told her and she told me. She even said almost half the school knows about last night's scene and especially those two remarks." Sirius smirked.

Much as James was uncomfortable discussing last night's incident he did notice that it was the first time that Sirius had met a girl twice. Usually he wouldn't talk to the same girl he had snogged for big six months.

"I see Hestia is no more 'Jones' to you. What have _you_ been up to?" James asked.

"Don't try and change the topic Prongs. We just happened to meet in the common room this morning. Although yours is a bigger story, come on, give away something." Sirius said defending himself blushing slightly.

James looked around and saw that all his friends were practically hanging on his words. They were curious to know what has _changed. They deserve to know._ James thought. All these years he had bothered them with talks of Lily, pestered them to go and talk to her to convince her to go on a date with him. He shouldn't have let them out on his happiness when they had been on his side during his bad times.

So James went on telling his friends everything from the train incident to last night. He nervously glanced at each of his friends and then sighed. _Maybe they'll think that I'm over excited or getting my hopes up._

"Well this explains a lot." Remus said after a while. All of them stared at him to continue. "Lily didn't seem in her element on the start of term feast, when I asked her about it she said she was fine. Even then she didn't remember that she missed out the prefects' meeting that night. When I reminded her she seemed completely lost and said she was going to sleep."

"Yeah...yeah...she keeps glancing at you. Earlier she used to do that rather nervously but from the past few days she stares at you without breaking her eye contact. So many times I've seen her watching you intently whenever she'd be seated behind you." Sirius said. And Remus coughed silently trying to disguise his laugh.

"What?!" Sirius asked, annoyed.

"Padfoot thought doomsday was somewhere near when he observed this about Lily." Peter told James.

"He even started collecting food and fire whiskey." Remus said in between his fits of laughter. James burst out laughing and then looked dead pan serious.

"So it was _you_ who stole my firewhisky." James said realisation dawning on him. With that he got up with an intention of hitting Sirius but Sirius got up and ran out of the door before James could reach him. James too ran out of the door after him.

Lily had set out way too early in the morning to go to the library. It was nine and even Madam Pince had just opened the library and was fairly irritated at having a student this early in the morning. Lily just had one thought in her mind. She had to complete her impossibly long homework in time to make it to the quidditch practice. She had had butterflies in her stomach right from the second she had woken up. Her friends looked at her as if she had grown another head when she said she's going to the library. She had smiled to herself discreetly and headed out. It was a beautiful day. Just as she was entering the library behind madam Pince she saw a kitten. She put her bag down and ushered the kitten to come to her. The kitten looked afraid but never the less came to Lily and settled itself in her arms.

" Where is your mama? Your siblings?" Lily cooed to the little kitten. It snuggled closer. Just then a cat came over and licked Lily's toes. She looked down and saw the cat.

"Look mama's here." She said to the kitten. And with that she set the kitten beside the cat. Moments later all the other kittens came there. Lily fed them some muffins she had and played with them for a while. When they left she got up and collected her belongings. Just as she moved towards the library she couldn't get hold of what knocked her down but she was pinned down to the ground with someone on top of her. She was surrounded by the smell of forest, chocolate and cinnamon. She instantly knew who it was. Someone was laughing out loud which she recognised to be Sirius.

James had been chasing Sirius all round the school. It was fun to be open to his friends and being normal. He thought he shouldn't have left them out on his life. Just as he was about to catch him Sirius dodged to the side and James stumbled over a stone and had just a moment see who was walking in front of him. And before he could call out any warning he fell to the ground with Lily pinned down beneath him. He caught the familiar whiff of roses mixed with caramel. He rolled over to the side to let Lily get up. He knew he'd messed it up when Lily didn't even spare him a glance, brushed her clothes with her hands and walked away. He felt so deflated. _She wouldn't come in the evening._ James thought and with that he didn't bother getting up rather he put his arm over his eyes and lay there for quite some time. In the distant he heard Sirius's laughter die out and felt footsteps approaching him.

"Come on mate, probably she became too flustered to deal with the situation." Sirius said in the most comforting tone he could muster.

James nodded and got up.

He had lost all hopes that Lily would even consider coming down to the quidditch pitch to see the practice. So he decided to let the day drag him through. He remained aloof almost all day and went early to the pitch to fly and clear his mind off of his insecurities before the practice.

Lily couldn't stop blushing all throughout the time she was in the library thinking about her encounter with James this morning. Her body was flush against his and she could feel his tight abdominal muscles flexing above her. And nearly gasped when James put his hand on her waist to climb off her. Her mind was reeling with those thoughts. She had a hard time completing her homework. She wished she hadn't walked out on him without saying anything. She was fighting an impulse for not going to the practice. She really wanted to but after she left so rudely she thought it would be inappropriate of her to show up at the practice. She decided that she would go late but before the practice ended. _Yes, that would be alright._

But just as the clock struck six Lily found it impossible to stay in her seat. She kept squirming, chewing on her quill, looking at the clock after every ten seconds. She felt as if the minute arm of the clock was stuck so she pointed the wand at the clock and said "Reparo." But the minute was stuck at the same place. Finally she decided that she would go to the practice at ten minutes past six.

James had been restless. Two members of the team were here and there was no sign of Lily. But maybe she didn't want to come. He thought. But he couldn't help but hope she just might. He kept glancing at his wrist watch. Seven minutes past six. By this time the entire team was here and was waiting for his command. He was just explaining to them that they'd be working on the keeper-chaser coordination that he saw a flash of red hair. He turned and saw Lily regarding him with apprehension. When she saw him looking at her she gave him a small smile. And James returned it with a mega watt, ear to ear grin. Her smile broadened and then she turned around to settle herself in the stands. When she sat down she looked at James and found him with the same smile plastered over his face. She giggled at this.

"POTTER.!" Marlene shouted. When he looked her way she smirked. "Shall we get on with the practice if you're done admiring your sweetheart?" She asked in a low voice so only the team could hear her and they laughed.

The practice went fairly well. Everyone was in good form. He scheduled another practice on Saturday with other motives in mind. He completely forgot that he'd have to change his quidditch jersey while Lily would still be outside. He looked at Lily packing her bag. He thought probably they wouldn't go back to the castle together. With a sigh he walked towards the changing room.

Lily saw James walk towards the changing room and then remembered that she'd have to wait for him to come. So she went towards the changing room.

James tried to get changed as fast as possible. _If I change early I might still have a chance of walking with her to castle._ He thought. With that he rushed out of the changing rooms and ran into someone and fell on top of the person. He was irritated until he smelled roses and caramel. He rested his weight on his elbow and found a blushing Lily under him.

"Ohh.." That was all he could say. He couldn't believe his luck today. He couldn't wrap the idea around his head that, Lily Evans, of all the girls, Lily Evans would wait on him.

"That would be twice now." Lily said shyly.

"Yeah."

Just then someone walked out of the changing room and said, "Smooth Potter."

"Shut up, Woods." James said and climbed off Lily.

They walked silently for a while.

"I thought you wouldn't come." James said after an uncomfortable silence.

"I thought I shouldn't after I left so rudely this morning."

"But you came." James said slightly shaking his head.

"But I came." Lily said a small smile tugging at her lips.

And after that they discussed everything from siblings to the crazy aunts in their family to the pranks that the marauders had played for the past five years. Lily never thought she could have a _normal_ conversation with James and here she was loving every minute of it. When James asked her to join him and his friends at dinner she didn't give it a second thought and agreed to it. Dinner was hilarious. Sirius told her about his doomsday theory earning himself a furiously blushing Lily and a glare from James. All she could remember doing throughout dinner was laughing her lungs out. She had laughed to the extent of feeling nauseous. When dinner was over James had walked her to the Gryffindor tower. When they had entered they decided to sit by the fire for sometime. They sat on the crimson carpet leaning on the sofa. They kept talking about various things. James told Lily about Sirius's parents and his family. Lily had felt bad and said she empathised with Sirius as she was in a similar situation. She then told James about her sister. James had looked enraged at this little revelation.

" Does she even know how brilliant you are?" He had asked her.

"She doesn't care just how much brilliant I am, she doesn't want to have to do anything with me."

And then Lily went on telling James about her boyfriend who looked like a whale. They had made fun of him and Lily told him about the job her dad does. After that they found themselves engrossed in the talks of the muggle appliances. James debated that unless he sees them he wouldn't believe in them. They talked for some more time before it became impossible for them to open their eyes anymore. Stifling a yawn James looked at his watch and jumped up.

"It's three in the morning."

"What?!" Lily said, astonished "But we haven't been talking that long certainly."

"It is three, Lily, believe it or not."

Lily's heart made and impromptu jump at hearing James say her name out loud and she blushed.

"I say we call it a night then." She said.

"I guess so."

With that they got up, said their good byes and left for their dormitories.

Both of them couldn't stop smiling even when they had fallen asleep because they were dreaming of each other. None of them could wait for the dawn to break and head down to breakfast and meet each other.

 **A/N: Soo sorry guys this update took me so long. It was my eighteenth birthday last weekend. Eighteenth-birthday- weekend. Sounds crazy right? And it** _ **was.**_ **The reason I haven't been able to update. It took me quite some time to recover from my euphoric state. Anyways I love you guys (you know that right?) and please tell me if you like or dislike the story. Thanks for favouriting or following me or the story and above all thanks for reading. I'll post the next chapter by 10th. Until then...byee...love ya...(and also plz over look any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors I haven't had the chance to re-read this chapter I was just too excited to post it.)**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

 **A/N: Hey my sweethearts this is the new chapter, it's more like a filler. Enjoy... _**

Before the students of Hogwarts could tell, it was almost two weeks before Christmas. Especially, to James and Lily time seemed to have flown like cool pleasant winds. Ever since that quidditch practice there had been many other practices more or less the same until it became a ritual for Lily to watch the practice, wait for James outside the changing room and go back with him to the castle and have dinner with his friends. The entire student population seemed to have taken a lot of interest in the developments taking place between their infamous sworn enemies of the past. They would make all sorts of theory to justify their behaviours.

However James did not ask Lily out for a date on their Hogsmeade weekends and Lily was grateful for that. Much as she knew she had become inseparable from Potter she still hadn't sorted out her feelings for him. Even James was so lost in their new found friendship that the thought never occurred to him about them being in a serious relationship. He loved it how she would still counter his remarks with the same mixture of wit and passion but with much less bitterness.

A few days back when one of their classmates who was a Hufflepuff asked whether James had asked Lily out, it had made them utterly uncomfortable.

It was a potions class and James and Lily had paired up. James had leaned down to reach Lily's ears to tell her that he was going to slide a dung bomb down the cauldron of the boy right in front of them. Both, Lily and James would always look for an opportunity to be as close to each other as possible without touching. It again was something like an unspoken agreement and whoever would move closer first the other one would play along. This was another one of those moments. So Lily leaned in towards James and he took his own sweet time inhaling her scent and she, enjoying the warmth of his body against her shoulders, before he told her what he meant. She gave him a fake admonishing look, he gave her a cheeky smile causing her to smile and shake her head at him. It was then that Whitely asked, "If you two lovebirds wouldn't mind me interfering, but James, have you asked Lily out yet?"

Everyone in the room fell silent and James saw Lily frozen to the spot. He would have given Whitely a dozen of answers regarding his question had it been any other situation but he saw Lily, who, by now, had quietly walked over to the potion, that had started bubbling in the cauldron, to stir it, and remembered what Marlene had told him.

Lily expected James to throw some smartass comment back at Whitely. But to her utter surprise he quietly put the dung bomb, he'd been holding, in his pocket and went back to cutting the scales without so much as turning towards the curious students. Almost as if he never heard him. She turned to look at him. There was no hint of embarrassment. So far so good. _He doesn't feel embarrassed about being associated with me. That's a good thing._ Lily thought as for the past few days she doubted whether he wants to be friends with her or not after finding out that there was nothing very extraordinary about her and she was like any other girl. When he found her gazing at him so intently, she smiled at him as if to thank him, just like she had during that one transfiguration class when she had first felt herself surrounded by the smell of forest, chocolate and cinnamon.

The other students went back to their work just as soon as did James and Lily. The rest of the class went by ordinarily except for James and Lily. They did not talk after that particular moment but James, as he would pass by her, would slightly graze his hands across her back making her muscles tensed up in order to stifle a gasp, or he would stand behind her to look at the potion cauldron just close enough to very, very slightly touch her, just so close that it made her tingle at weird places and would leave her skin flaming with desire, aching for his touch. When she would lean back, just enough to touch him, he would move back but not before steadying her by placing her hands on the counter and making her lean forward then continuing to stand behind her. Lily completely forgot about her potion when James leaned down to smell her hair and she lost all her self control and hung head down and let James run his nose down to the nape of her neck. Lily was gripping the sides of the counter unable to access her surroundings, her mind swirling with sensations of desire, her heart seemed to have lost all its sense too and was now making very very impromptu leaps almost making her choke on her own breath.

James was going through an internal struggle between turning around Lily, savouring every inch of her delectable skin and getting hold of the situation. As he was no master at potions he had to take Lily's help. He looked down at her and saw her breathing quite heavily. He leaned down beside her and whispered, "Lily the potion's boiling again what do we do?"

Lily immediately looked up at the potion in the cauldron and began stirring it.

"Pass me the scales." She said.

James left her side and went to get the scales. She added the scales and kept the spare ones back. James noticed her hands were a bit shaky.

"Are you alright Lily?" He asked.

Lily merely nodded. How can she look at him again after she has behaved so inappropriately.

But James won't have it that way. He reached out, placed a finger under Lily's chin and turned her head towards himself and asked her again, with concern etched upon his handsome face. It made Lily's heart melt. She felt so secure by just looking into those hazel eyes. They seemed to make all her embarrassment melt away, as if telling her they still were friends, even more so close now.

The bell rang but they had not prepared their potion. Lily quickly started adding the finishing ingredients while the students whose potions were graded by Slughorn were filing out. She was almost done when she noticed James cleaning up the counter packing his bag and then hers. And suddenly she was filled with the feeling of having someone she could count on never leaving her. James was the perfect partner. He wouldn't care about what sort of work she gave him to do, he always did it with utmost sincerity and made sure they did their best as a team. When she saw Slughorn coming over to their counter she motioned James to join her and he came and stood beside her with his hands locked behind his back like a true gentleman. Slughorn gave their potion an Outstanding. Lily had got Outstanding in all her potions till date but she couldn't help her ear to ear grin that spread across her lovely face when she turned to look at James, who mirrored her expression.

The students in front of their counter had already left but Whitely who was right behind them was waiting for Slughorn to come over and grade his potion. James paused and Lily looked at him confusedly. He mouthed at her "watch". Then in a sudden moment everything was in a chaos. Slughorn was wailing about whoever has done this will face a week's detention while the cauldron fell on the floor it's pieces flying all over the classroom. James grabbed Lily's hand and led her out of the classroom. By the time they got out they were laughing uncontrollably. When they finally came to their senses James remarked, "That should serve him just right." And they fell into another fit of laughter.

Ever since that day they had become irrevocably close. They couldn't spend time apart from each other. They paired up in almost all classes where the teachers allowed it, McGonagall's class especially. No one knew she was doing this for her own personal wager she intended to win. It became a habit, for Lily to finish their assignments and for James to pack up his and Lily's belongings. Sometimes when James noticed Lily was not in the best of her moods he would very surreptitiously keep some chocolate frogs in Lily's bag while packing it. Lily knew it was James doing but she would act completely clueless as to who it might be. And as usual James would play along the innocent friend who would then guess names of the possible candidates that might be guilty of this act. Both of them knew they were playing just another of those 'I-know-it's -you' game but neither of them minded as long as this game let them convey just how much he cared and just how much she felt loved.

"You know Christmas is just round the corner." James said with a glee on his face.

"So..what are you going to gift me?" Lily asked trying to stifle a laugh.

James gave her an annoyed look and then said with a smug expression, "Chocolate Frogs maybe."

They both burst out laughing bending down right where they were walking causing the students behind them to bump into them. But Christmas _was_ round the corner and it would be their first Christmas as friends. They both were excited but wouldn't show it to each other in hell's chance.

 **A/N: I'm kinda thinking of making a jump after a few other chapters to the seventh year where they would have their own separate dormitory as Heads. I'll update the next chapter by 11th of March. Until then...love you guys..thanks for reading and plz leave a review if you want something which might be missing in my story...byee...**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Admit defeat Potter, you can't do it." Lily said in a sing song voice.

"Never." James replied, his tongue sticking out, fingers tangled in Lily's hair trying to braid it right, without magic while they headed for the last class before the Christmas holidays. It was Friday and tomorrow would be their Hogsmeade weekend. James was still debating whether he should ask Lily out, not as a date but as a friend. But James thought better of it and decided to leave the matter as of now. He never wanted to risk this precious a friendship for a date he'd been craving for years. He knew that Lily always spent some time alone near the fields of the Shrieking Shack every Hogsmeade weekend. He could always meet her there. He knew enough about Lily by now. He had stalked her all these five years under his invisibility cloak sitting in uncomfortable postures in the library or under the tables of The Three Broomsticks just to watch her. She had fascinated him from the moment he'd set his eyes upon her and still fascinates him as if she becomes new everytime he looked at her. But mostly he enjoyed watching her when she would make a lame excuse and head out towards the Shrieking Shack to spend her time alone in quiet. She would often hum to herself and James would try to seat himself as close to her as possible without getting caught. He had once seen her in a shop looking at a pair of earrings which seemed to be a bit of antique gold material but then her friends came out of the changing room barging her with questions about their dresses. Lily being the way she was, went to help her friends and forgot about the earrings. When she had left James went in that shop and bought those earrings. It was in their fourth year. He still has it. He is impatient and wants to give it to Lily this Christmas but he also wants to save it for some special occasion. _Yes, I'll give it to her when I tell her that I still like her more than a friend._ But he always kept it with himself just in case Lily confesses to him that she likes him back.

"...Mr. Potter, are you listening?" Slughorn asked.

"Uh...yeah..yes sir I'm listening." James replied mindlessly.

"Maybe I should pair you up with Ms. Evans more often. You seem to do good with her." Slughorn said and chuckled to himself.

James turned sideways and winked at Lily, who to James surprise, blushed, but rolled her eyes nonetheless. James couldn't help but feel his heart soring at the thought that a wink earned him that delicious blush which makes her skin so sensitive to touch. He wanted to touch her and make her tremble at his touch but it was a far lived fantasy. He'd have to wait longer. When he looked back at her she was staring into her books. He could tell she was not reading. Her skin was still showing the remnants of that delectable blush. He looked around and saw everyone was either talking or sleeping. Sirius-sleeping, Remus-reading, Peter-?-peeing maybe. So he allowed himself his favourite timepass. Looking at Lily. He started from the feet which were crossed one over the other revealing a slight portion of her upper creamy thighs, then he looked up to her tiny waist not missing the curve of her hips, to her full breast which seemed to to be heaving heavily. His eyes stopped there. He could see the faint outline of her nipples hardening until he could see them clearly, poking through the material of her shirt. She was breathing more heavily he noticed. He could even make out the outline of her bra covering her full breasts. He then, moved to her collar bones hidden underneath the collar of her shirt up towards her neck which he noticed was flushed with blood almost as red as her hair. He then moved up to her chin to her lips, the lower one only slightly visible as she was biting it, then to her short sharp nose and then finally those emerald green eyes which were concentrating on the textbook before them. And yes, her hair, as vibrant as fire reaching her shoulders looking like the halo of Aphrodite. Although her brows were furrowed he can see she wasn't reading the textbook. It looked more like she was feigning concentration. James shook off the thoughts that were forming in his mind after this very inappropriate adventure his eyes has taken him to. _She thinks of me as a friend_. And James felt guilty for having violating the innocence of their friendship. Surely manly a times he had touched her the way a guys touches a girl he loves but she had been aware of it and had returned his advances in heat of the moment. But this was him being out of lines while she was blissfully unaware of him. They were friends now. He had to behave himself when Lily wasn't looking.

 _When will he stop looking at me like that._ Lily thought. She had seen James devouring her with those hazel eyes which were now dark almost black with a desire unknown to her. She had looked at him to pass a note but had caught him staring at her thighs then her waist. They were friends now and used to sit a lot inclined towards each other and hence why he could look at her more clearly. When he stopped at her breasts she could feel her heart rate accelerating. With every passing moment that he stared she felt as if he was peeling off her clothes ever so slowly without so much as touching her. She could feel her nipples hardening and finally poking through her shirt begging for friction. Then as soon as his gaze moved upwards she darted her eyes away from him trying to fake reading and concentrating. Her skin was on fire and suddenly the room felt so hot and it was almost _Christmas.!_

The bell rang and but her mind was elsewhere and she continued sitting in her seat engrossed in her thoughts. She knew James liked her more than as a friend and it was justified for him to look at her in that manner. But she still liked him _as_ a friend but was still so much aroused by the way his gaze travelled across her body. Sure she had experienced men staring at her in more or less similar manner but that had made her feel uncomfortable, angry. But the way James stared, made her think that he has a right over her body, her person. And for a very odd reason it aroused her beyond anything.

"Lily, let's leave, the bell has rung."

James voice startled her and she dropped the book she was holding. James bent down to pick up the book. James head was pretty close to her legs and gripped her quill as hard as she could, curled her toes so she doesn't jerk. By the time she held her hand out for the book James had already placed it on the table careful not to touch her and was waiting patiently for her to pack up. Lily looked up and noticed he wasn't making any eye contact with her nor was he helping her pack up.

 _How can I even look at her now._ It pained him to see her packing her stuff all by herself. He had bought her chocolate frogs thinking it would be his last chance before the holidays to get hold of her bag and slip them in. He wanted to touch her but felt too disgusted by himself. When she was done he held out the door for her and they went out quietly.

While walking through the corridor Lily saw Scarlett walking towards them. When she caught Lily's eyes, she glared at Lily. Lily quickly looked down. She never really found out how exactly James got rid of Scarlett but felt as if it was Lily's own fault.

James looked down at Lily when she quickly averted her gaze with a jerk. He then saw Scarlett walking towards them glaring furiously at Lily. He quickly grabbed Lily's hand and squeezed it. She looked up at him and he looked down at her. And then he ended their brief eye contact with a small reassuring smile. Scarlett had passed them by now. Although he didn't want to, but when he tried to slacken his grip to pull out his hand, Lily held onto it gripping it tightly. Neither of them said anything and headed to the Gryffindor tower hand in hand.

 _If I might try I may still have time to slip those chocolate frogs in her bags._ James thought with a smile. When they entered the common room they sat down with their friends. Alice, Frank, Hestia(who was interestingly sitting next to Sirius), Remus, Peter, and Marlene were sitting in a big circle chatting animatedly. Lily and James went in and sat down in between Marlene and Sirius. When James saw Lily was too busy arguing with Alice about something Lily did in fourth year, he quickly grabbed her bag and kept the chocolate frogs in the bag.

"You won't believe what I found in my bag yesterday.!" Lily said with a childlike glee jumping up and down. All of the sixth year students were in the Great Hall for breakfast. Lily was sitting between Marlene and Alice, across from James.

"What? Wait it can't be what I think it is." James said with a with a girly look of surprise.

"It is, it is.!" Lily replied and they both burst out laughing.

"I'm telling you Evans, it is either Lockhart or Diggory. Who else would do such a cheeky thing?" James said with a serious expression.

"I don't think. I guess it is way more cheeky even by their standards." Lily said with her expression smug.

The rest of the crowd just rolled their eyes at them. They had become used to listening to Lily and James speak in a gibberish that only they understood.

*King's Cross*

"You'll write to me wont you?" James asked in a very flustered manner which was almost hilarious.

"No of course not what makes you think I will?" Lily said in a sarcastic tone.

"Thank merlin, I thought you won't let me rest even in the holidays." James chuckled as he said this.

Lily gasped dramatically and smacked his arm.

"If you two sweethearts are quite done, can we leave James, your parents are practically watching you both."

"Okay bye." Lily said and left immediately not wanting to face his parents.

"Bye" James said equally relieved that Lily didn't stick around to greet his parents who would have bombarded her with all that he had talked about her to them.

"Was that Lily Evans?" Mrs. Potter asked.

James nodded quietly.

"I see you didn't mess it up this time with her." Mr. Potter said giving his look-alike son a wink.

"Can we go and at least meet her. I couldn't see her clearly with all her hair flying around. And my.! Her hair _is_ red.!"

"No mom, we can't meet her. And of course her hair is red. Did you think I've been lying all these years?" James said almost impatient to leave now.

"Well you do have a habit of exaggerating." Mr. Potter said.

"Can we just leave already?" James said irritated now.

"Okay." Mrs. Potter said quietly, hiding her smile.

 **A/N: Hey guys this is more like *I was bored out of my mind and wanted to write* so I wrote this sort-of chapter. I'll update the next real chapter by 14th. My guest- love ya honey. And all my readers, who stick around enduring my laziness in updating and frustration of getting short chapters to read *guilty look*, I love you too people. Thanks for reading...bye...**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: I decided to write this chapter as soon as possible because I was so happy to get so many reviews.**

 **Lara.x-I love you hun...I woke up and found soo manyy new reviews..you just made my day..and yes I had an amazing 18th birthday, thanks.**

 **And of course there was a 'guest review', are you a new reviewer or my own personal favourite one? Doesn't matter I love you nonetheless. And I love all of my readers.**

 **Ohkaayy...here's the new chapter...the reason I'm so shifty and uncertain about it being not as nice as other chapters is because it is a bit gloomy-ish. I want Lily to realise that she likes James more than just a friend and in this chapter she will. It isn't** _ **THAT**_ **gloomy but...urgh...you get it right..it has a bit serious undertone to it.**

 **And also I've made a jump to the last days of their sixth year where they are finished with their exam and will soon be leaving for their home for the summers.**

"Shush" Lily said to Alice.

It was there last day of their sixth year term as they'd be leaving tomorrow. They did not have anything to do so they decided to play a game of hide and seek. James was the one who had to find the others(Alice, Frank, Hestia, Marlene, Sirius and Remus). Alice and Lily were hiding behind the sofa in the common room which they had placed in such a manner that they were sandwiched between the wall and the back of the sofa. Marlene had turned her hair red so that James might mistake her for Lily and would be eliminated for wrong call. Alice was giggling uncontrollably because James was trying to climb up the girls' dormitories' staircase-cum-slide and was looking like an orangutan. Lily couldn't see him, the reason why she felt so irritated at Alice's giggling.

Alice let out a gasp. "He has managed to climb up the stairs."

 _Clever._ James thought as he saw a mane of red hair which was so carefully turned into the same shade of hair as of Lily's. But he knew better. He'd hadn't spent six years of his life eyeing Lily's hair in awe to be fooled so easily. When he saw the tall athlete structure he immediately recognised Marlene.

"I spy, Marlene. Come out you're caught." James said victoriously.

But the figure didn't move.

"I know Lily enough to tell it's not her."

"Yes wouldn't you know all about her hair and measurements." said Marlene coming out the bed covering, smirking.

"Shut up." James said, a bit flustered.

Down here Lily saw Sirius rush out of the boys' dormitories towards the portrait hole.

"That's out of range Sirius you can't leave the tower."said Lily.

Instead of hearing a reply she heard a quiet sniff and wondered if Sirius was _crying._ With that she got out of the place she was stuck in and left without a word to Alice.

Lily climbed out of the portrait hole and and saw Sirius down the right corridor turning towards left. She started walking towards him and then started jogging to reach Sirius before she lost him. When she turned left she found a deserted corridor. It was very dark here and she could _feel_ the eerie silence that surrounded that place. And then she saw a shadow of a tall well built boy sitting on the stairs. _Sirius_.

"Sirius?" Lily called.

The boy leaned back to see who had called him.

 _It was Sirius._ Lily heaved a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered.

"Nothing. Just needed some alone time you know." replied Sirius, his voice a bit shaky.

"Have you been crying?"

"No." He lied glibly.

"Really?" Lily said as she sat down beside him on the stairs.

"Yeah."

"You are an awful liar, Sirius."

"What do you want?"

"Nothing I thought I might come and see why my friend has been crying. Is it so wrong?"

"No Lily, it's not wrong."

"Then tell me what is wrong with you."

"It's my brother."

"Regulus? What about him?"

"He has joined that Voldemort bloke." Sirius said choking back a sob, "I never thought he would do that. He was more like me. He wasn't as brave as I but he would do whatever pranks I would plan and said that he'd never leave my side. How can he do that, how can he join _his_ side when he clearly hated it. He never wanted anything to do with the pureblood thing and the dark side as well. What changed? I want to know what does that bloke whispers to these innocent kids that they run and join his side? He's just in his fourth year. Why can't everyone lead a normal life?"

"Sirius I don't know what to say to comfort you but I know one thing. I recognised Regulus the moment I saw him. Not because of his appearance but because of his aura. He is the quiet you. Or maybe he has become quiet after your family boycotted you and you left. But he has the same vibrant, young at heart aura as yours. He's in a way better than you. He takes into consideration other people's feelings while he pranks them. And I don't think that he volunteered , Sirius. Maybe he was forced to." Lily said and Sirius looked up.

"What do you mean?" He asked, hope shining in his eyes.

"I've seen him many a times. Someday I would be in the library and there would be too many books for me to put back. So Regulus would come around and help me. I still don't have any idea why he did that. It was our fourth year and his second. He would give me a friendly smile whenever he would pass me in a corridor. But then there would be some days when he wouldn't look at me at all and avoid my gaze quite guiltily. I wanted to ask him but I didn't want to go to any Slytherins group and call for him. It was then that it struck me. I noticed him for other few days. Whenever his housemates would be around he would pretend that he doesn't even know me. He would help me only when he was alone. He never said anything about this. He knew that I knew about this problem and neither of us ever brought it up." Lily finished.

"So you've been friends with him _all this time?_ " Sirius asked incredulously.

"Yeah pretty much."

"Wow."

"So try and talk to him Sirius. Maybe he might confess it to you."

"Yeah..yeah...I'll talk to him."

"When?" Lily said with emphasis, "Do it today, Sirius, okay?"

"Yeah...okay...er..thanks Lily." Sirius said awkwardly.

Lily laughed out loud at his awkwardness.

"It's okay Sirius, anytime. Now let's head back or the others would think we had taken the game way too seriously."

"You go..I'll go find Reg."

Lily nodded and left.

When Lily got back to the common room she found it oddly empty. There were a few seventh years' were around and and some others. But there was no trace of the sixth year students. She shrugged and thought that maybe they had gone back to playing. But she didn't feel like playing so she climbed out of the portrait hole and headed out to sit by the black lake.

"I see her." James shouted to the group who were looking for Lily and Sirius all over the school.

"The game's over we're not playing anymore I'm really tired." Marlene said and Alice agreed.

"I'll go find Sirius." Remus said when he saw James in a dilemma whether to go to Lily or to find Sirius.

James nodded gratefully and jogged off towards the black lake.

The moment Lily had sat down beneath the marauders' tree she had closed her eyes and thought about the real world that awaited her outside of Hogwarts. She knew there were dark times ahead and she wouldn't have the comfort and support of her parents in a way that her other classmates did. She knew they'd be on her side always but they couldn't come and help her. She was the only witch in their house and none of them knew about what all dangers were lurking around in the magical world. But in a way she was glad that they were pretty much away from the dangers.

"Where were you?!"

She was startled awake from her trail of thoughts. She looked up and saw James towering over her faking anger.

"I was with Sirius for some while and then I came here."

James noticed that her voice sounded hollow and tired.

"What is it, Lily?" James asked concern evident in his voice as he sat down beside her.

"I was talking to Sirius, his brother had joined Voldemort. He was pretty disturbed over this." Lily told him and went on telling all about her conversation with Sirius.

James watched Lily as she told him about Regulus. He noticed the change in her body language. She didn't once look up towards James and kept talking while her eyes were staring fixedly ahead into space. Her hands, with which she would normally make many gestures, were rested in her lap as if they had no life in them. Her shoulders were slumped down and her eyes didn't have the usual spark in them.

When she was finished she looked down to her fingers interlaced in her lap. She didn't know how would James react to that. Probably he'll go to search for Sirius. But she wanted him to stay, wanted him to be near her, making her feel safe like he always did.

"Are you afraid Lily?" James asked looking at her.

Lily kept looking down. _He's still here._ She thought, relief washing over her.

"No James, I'm not afraid of those death eaters or Voldemort. What I'm afraid of, are the consequences their actions might bring...I don't want to lose my friends or my family," and then she looked up at James and without thinking said in a whisper,"and I don't want to lose you."

Tears formed in her eyes thinking about losing James. What would she do without him?

James draped an arm around Lily and let her head rest on his chest.

"I'm not going to leave you Lily, at any cost. Never. There may exist guys who would offer to die for you but I promise Lily, I would _live_ for you, by your side until the end only because you don't want to lose me and I care." James said resting his head on Lily's.

It was then that Lily realised why all these years she had never let any guy come near her. She had felt bad to say no to a nice guy but she never could bring herself saying yes to anyone. It seemed natural to her that they weren't made for her. All this time she had treated all boys nicely and equally. Except for one. The one who was the only one privileged to see the other side of her,her wrath, her angry passionate smartass comebacks, of which the other guys were unaware one in whose arms she was right now. And now she was sure that none of them could have handled her the way James did. They would have given up on her by now. But not James. Probably that is why all these years she had felt something calling on to her on a deeper level of the unconscious regarding him. She couldn't believe. She couldn't believe it.

 _She loved James._ The serious kind of love. Not the usual fling. This was for sure. But she'll wait. To tell him this. She didn't know why but she just felt there'd be some right moment for it. But she let James know that she appreciated him for telling her that he cared by hugging him, wrapping her arms around his torso. He responded immediately by pulling her closer.

James knew that something about Lily had changed when she said she didn't want to lose him. But he didn't want to push the matter. She was disturbed enough. He had told her that he'd never leave her and it was only the truth. He loved her beyond anything. And he knew she loved him back in her own strange manner. But he'd give her space and let her come around in her own time until she was ready to tell him.

One thing was for sure. This summer too she will see a lot of hazel in her dream. She wouldn't dread them now. Rather she would wait for the night just to let those warm hazels tuck her to bed and then meet her in her dreams.

 **A/N: I'll update the next chapter by...umm...I guess..14th..yes...thanks for reading guys...love ya..byeee..**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey guys here's the next chapter. Enjoy.**

Chapter Ten.

 _His thumb traced her bottom lip while his other hand held her pony tail pulling her head back. He leaned in slightly and then ran the tip of his nose along her jaw line, when he reached her chin, he started downwards towards her neck dimple and rested his nose there breathing heavily. His breath tickling her neck. His hands were now on her waist,holding her steady. He started unbuttoning her shirt sending sparks to her body wherever his finger touched her warm skin. He slides her shirt off of her shoulders._

 _"Lily." He said and for some odd reason he sounded high pitched._

 _"Hmm."_

"LILY.!"

Lily sat up straight and let her thoughts sort themselves out.

"Lily mom says breakfast is ready.! Don't make me come here again to call you." Petunia, her sister, romped down the stairs after barking this message to her. Lily was too tired to mull over this little issue of her relationship with her sister.

She then thought about the was another one of those dreams she has been having all this summer. Much as she liked them they always left her frustrated. James (dream James) wouldn't do anything except undress her and run the tip of his nose practically everywhere. She would wake up all aroused, her panties soaking wet, nipples hard waiting to be attended to, her skin over sensitive to touch, drenched in sweat. All through the summer she'd written to James spending hours wondering if she sounded too desperate or flirty or giving away any wrong (right) signals that she liked him back. She didn't want him to find this out through letters. She had had a hard time deciding whether she should write three 'reallys' or two, before 'miss you' when she was writing a letter to James last night. She couldn't wait to get her Hogwarts' letter and head to Diagon Ally to meet her friends, and James. She closed her eyes thought about that time when James said he would live for her. She smiled and hugged herself. Ever since she has discovered these new feelings for James life just didn't seem the same anymore. It looked full of so many surprises. How did she ever fall in love with a guy she hated, she didn't know. Maybe James had been right all these years when he said she was just in denial of her feelings. Whatever it was, she wouldn't deny it now. Not that she could help it with all those dreams. Maybe she even moans his name out loud. When this thought had first struck her she was horrified by it. She didn't want anyone to walk in on her and find her moaning James' name. Since then she bolts the door of her bedroom before going to sleep. She got out of the bed and headed down for breakfast.

"Seriously James, are you even listening?" Sirius asked irritated.

"Hmm...what Pads?" James asked still not having recovered from his day dream.

"You were moaning Lily's name you know." Sirius said snickering.

"Shut up Padfoot." James replied throwing a pillow at his best mate.

"Know what Prongs I'll let you day dream about Lily. I have to leave in an hour anyways."

"What for? Can I come too?"

"No!" Sirius said, horrified, "it's my date with Hestia I can't take a stag with me."

"And how come a girl agreed to go out with a dog, huh?"

"Girls love dogs."

"Whatever you say Padfoot." James said trying to get rid of Sirius to go back to his Lily- dreams.

"Can't wait to get rid of me, eh?" Sirius said.

 _Darn you Pads for knowing me so well._

"I remember, Lily once mentioned Hestia doesn't like guys who make her wait."

"Yeah right."

"All the best mate."

"Thanks mate."

Sirius left shutting the door after him. James shook his head affectionately at his best mate. And his thoughts then took the lead, flashing him the images of Lily. He couldn't wait to see her, to touch her lovely bare skin. He had written to her practically every day and she had replied almost immediately. He reached out and read the latest letter from her for the hundredth time.

 _James,_

 _I am bored out of my mind *whining*. I don't know what to do. Alice has gone to France, Hestia has just returned from her aunt's place in Wales and is going out with Sirius today(can you believe it?) and Marlene has gone to try out for the Holyhead Harpies. And here I am stuck with my sister because her boyfriend doesn't want her to go out to a family vacation if I'm accompanying them. So my parents decided that we stay at home this summer. I. Hate. Her. Boyfriend. Stupid creature. Trust me he doesn't have a brain. Looks like a troll. I have no idea what he is so proud about but he's a bloody prig. And since I am not eighteen(legal age to be designated as major in the muggle world) my parents don't allow me to drive the car. I hate my life. My dad: I love him. He lets me drive the car whenever mum and Petunia's not around and when he sees a cop(sort of auror) he fakes a heart attack and act that I have to take him to the hospital as the ambulance was late. It's hilarious. Mum's a bit abide by the rule types. Like me. But anyways soon Petunia found out about this and told mum. She doesn't leaves me with dad now. Which is even better because now dad goes out with Petunia to buy groceries.*dad and petunia don't get along*. And almost every day I see Petunia regretting her decision._

 _Merlin James, I really, really miss you. I wish I could talk to you, I mean actually talk to you. Anyways I'll see around in Diagon Ally. Till then. Bye._

 _Lily._

James had read the last paragraph until he had practically learnt it. She had written two 'reallys'. Did that mean something? He hoped it did. And with no idea what he was doing he started writing to Lily.

 _Lily,_

 _Even I don't have anything interesting to tell you. And yes Sirius told me about Hestia. He left an HOUR before the scheduled time. I hope he would stop his snogging adventures with other girls after Hestia. My parents are working over time with all this madness of Voldemort going around. So even we had to cancel our trip to Portugal. And I'm here at home reading and replying to your letters. Your dad sounds like me. I'd love to meet him someday._

James stopped writing and thought whether it was too much to write that he wanted to meet her dad. But he didn't mean it that way. So he continued writing.

 _And well you know..if you want I could come over to your place...I know it's stupid to offer myself to come over at your place. But we're friends. I'm sure Alice and Hestia and Marlene come over most of the time. Do tell me if you don't want me to come over. I'll understand completely. But it's just that even I have missed you so much Lily. I can't wait to see you. And I will not. Just reply to me as soon as you get this._

 _James._

With that, he got up and tied the letter to his owl's leg.

"Give it to Lily okay? And don't come back without an answer." The owl hooted and flew away.

James laid down and placed his hands behind his head. He had to wait now.

As soon as Lily saw James owl from the window of the kitchen she took the letter from it and ran upstairs to her bedroom and found the owl following her.

"Oh..so our impatient James wants an instant answer huh?" She asked the owl which hooted its agreement.

Lily read the letter and sat down in her chair wondering whether it would be alright to have James over. He was a _boy._ He was right when he said that her other friends often come over at her place but they all end up in the bedroom, in her bed, under the covers, watching movies. Can she do that with him? No definitely not. But she did want to see him. And he's just a friend. She did like him in all sorts of _other_ ways. But in front of the world they were friends. It wouldn't matter much. Yes, she could have him over. Besides her parents would be happy to see some other guy besides Vernon, The Boyfriend, as her dad called him. And James IS a nice guy. They would like to have him come here.

Lily instantly began writing her reply saying that she'd love to have him come over for lunch.

She tied the letter to Edla's leg and opened the window for her to fly out.

She ran down to tell her mom that she'll have a friend coming over for lunch.

"Alice?"

"No mom, James."

"James as in James Potter?" her mother asked incredulously.

"Yes mom. He and I have happened to become very close friends. Even he hasn't gone anywhere in these holidays and I asked him to come over."

"It's okay dear I didn't want any explanation. Friends come over all the time. Why are you so trussed up?" she left Lily with that.

Petunia was upstairs. She had slept in and said she won't come down for lunch. Her dad was working today so he had left early. Her mom asked her to come along with her to help her buy some groceries.

So Lily and Mrs. Evans weren't at home when James had arrived. He was very nervous. This would be the first impression Lily's parents will have of him even if just as a friend. He had tried to tame his hair a lot to have it lie down in some decent manner. But still they seem to stick up. But they didn't look _that_ messy. With a deep breath he rang the bell. He heard someone coming. With every step the other person took his heart beat increased. _What if it is the wrong house._ But James couldn't ponder anymore as the door opened. Out came a stick. James thought it was a stick until he saw it had arms and a face. Not to forget a horse like face. She was wearing shorts. Short shorts. But her legs didn't look half as much appealing to him as he thought they should. She had _NO_ curves _AT ALL_. Even stick figure girls have curves. And then his mind wandered to Lily. She was a curvy woman for sure. Her body had all the right curves in all the right places.

"Can I help you?" The girl at the door asked.

"Is Lily at home?"

"No she isn't. I'm her sister by the way." the girl said.

 _NO WAY IS SHE HER SISTER._ She is downright ugly. Nowhere even close to Lily. To James relief he heard Lily's laugh somewhere close by. He turned around and saw Lily with a lady, James instantly recognised to be her mother. She had the same hair.

Lily nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw James. She rushed to him and hugged him. James, taken aback, had taken some time to process what had happened and then wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so glad you're here.!" She said pulling away from him reluctantly.

"I know I am too." He said smiling at her.

Lily's mother looked at the two kids in front of her and smiled to herself shaking her head a bit. _Friends. As if I'm an idiot._ She thought.

"Um...mum...he's my friend James."

"Hello Mrs. Evans." James said offering his hand. Mrs. Evans shook it.

"Hello dear."

"And my sister Petunia." Lily said gesturing to the shell shocked figure standing on the door.

"Yes we've met." James said almost as if trying to dismiss her.

"Come on in." Lily said to James

Mrs. Evans headed to the door after Lily and James.

"What've you done to your hair?" Lily said giggling.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" James asked worriedly.

"Everything." Lily said and reached up to ruffle his hair, "Now they look normal."

Petunia and her mother exchanged looks at this.

James was no fool. The way Lily had hugged him wasn't a friend to friend hug. It was more like she had been desperate to see him. And he didn't blame her, even he had been equally, maybe more, desperate to see her. As soon as he had realised she was hugging him he had involuntarily wrapped his arms around her waist pulled her closer and tighter, burying his face in her hair. When he had looked up, he saw Mrs. Evans shaking her head slightly, smiling, looking down and then she headed out to get the groceries out of the car. Lily didn't even know when her mother got back.

It wasn't until they were in the living room that James noticed what Lily was wearing. She was in a white sundress which had thin shoulder straps revealing her round shoulders, the dress fitted her at the waist and had a flowing skirt which ended a few inches above her knees slightly revealing the curve of her lower thighs. She looked like an angel with her red hair down, which James noticed had grown this summer and were now reaching down to her tummy, her green eyes as usual sparkling and stunning, and a white sundress.

Lily had thought that she would change into something more decent. But when she saw James' eyes taking a leisurely stroll over her body she decided against changing.

"How did you come?" Lily asked.

"Oh..a car."

"Where'd you get a car?"

"The ministry has given it to dad. He was at work today so I borrowed it from him."

"The driver, is he muggle?"

"No. But he does have a muggle license."

"James, what would you like to have for lunch?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Anything's fine." James said giving her a smile.

"What is _THAT?!"_ James asked eyeing the television set.

"It's a T.V. James, like I told you."

"So does it show moving pictures on the screen. There's nothing that I can see though." James said sceptical.

Lily walked over to the switch board and turned on the TV's switch. A news channel popped up and James jerked away from the television. Afraid, he tried to touch the screen, on the face of the newsreader.

"Will she know if I touched her?"

"No James, she won't." Lily replied patiently.

James reached into his pocket took out 20 sickles and handed them to Lily. Lily looked confusedly at his outstretched arm.

"The bet Lily." James said almost amused. Sirius would have never forgotten any bet and here he was doing something he thought was impossible. _How can someone forget a bet that they knew they'd win._

"Ohh.. James I knew I would win anyways..so the bet was a bit unfair and I don't play _un_ fair."

"They are yours Lily, take them or I'll leave them here anyways."

"Okay give them to me, I'll change them with muggle money and we can go get some ice cream later."

"You mean go to Gringotts? Now?" James asked and immediately remembered he's in a muggle house, "Yeah sorry...you must be having the money...okay stop laughing at me please."

The time until lunch passed in a same manner. James asking about various muggle appliances-having Lily show them to him-arguing over the bet money-keeping it for ice cream later. James wouldn't get out of the kitchen looking at the cookies baking inside the microwave. Lily had a hard time pulling him out and failing. He wouldn't budge from his spot beside the microwave. She remembered the first time Alice, Hestia and Marlene had visited her. It was more or less the same. When the cookies were finally out, he took one of them instantly, without listening to Lily's warning that it was hot. And then he had danced like a gorilla all around the house trying to chew the hot cookie, and then Lily had pulled him by the collar and blew air into his mouth. Much as it helped with the cookies, it didn't help with James heart rate. It increased by every second at having Lily's mouth so close to his.

Lunch was served and Lily's utter surprise Petunia had come down for lunch.

"She said she won't come down for lunch."

"I didn't know we would have a guest, you know, it would have looked rude."

"Thanks." Lily was surprised that her sister didn't behave all rudely in front of James.

They were in the kitchen and James was in the dining room, helping Mrs. Evans lay the dishes. Lily went out without another word and seated herself beside James. James instantly took notice of Lily's fidgety behaviour and knew it was Petunia's doing. He reached down and gave her hand a small squeeze. She looked up at him and smiled. Petunia had joined them.

The rest of the lunch went by, in fits of laughter when James told her all the hilarious tag lines Lily used to say to make him go away, mimicking her voice. 'Arrogant toe rag', 'you make me sick' and the list went on. James had helped Lily with the dishes and they both had gotten into a water fight, splattering water everywhere and before Mrs. Evans got there, they used magic to clean it up. They had then taken to watching a cricket match between England and Australia. Lily all the while explaining all the rules of cricket. She was a cricket fanatic. James was amazed at how much Lily was enthusiastic about a sport and would literally curse a player if he did something wrong. He wondered if she cheered for him like this, before they became friends.

"Is this the second innings?" A man at the door said.

They both turned around to find Lily's father standing in the foyer. Lily ran to her father and hugged him.

"Yes dad." She said when she looked at his father's inquiring look thinking he was asking about the innings.

"What?! You never told me."

"Didn't I just tell you?"

"But i thought at least _you_ would tell me about it _before_ bringing your boyfriend over."

"What?! No dad...wait...you were asking about James?...no..no..no..he's my friend."

"Ohh."

"Mr. Evans" James said outstretching his hand. He took it and said, "James, is it? Nice to meet you, son."

"Well you two, enjoy." Mr. Evans said. He started walking away and then abruptly turned around and asked, "Are you James _Potter_?"

When James nodded Mr. Evans muttered,"Dear Lord. Is doomsday anywhere near?"

James burst out laughing at this, telling Mr. Evans that this was exactly what his best friend had said.

When the ministry car arrived James bid farewell to everyone. Lily said she'll see him out and went outside with him. The car was at the other end of the road so they had to walk a long way to get to it. When they reached it neither of them wanted to say goodbye like the night of the Slug Club dinner. They stood there awkwardly for a moment or so before James leaned down to hug Lily. As if she was waiting for it, Lily reached up and wrapped her arms around James neck and he pulled her off the ground, both burying their head in the crook of their neck. After a minute or so he put Lily down but didn't detangle himself from her and ran his hand over her back. Lily arched her back pushing her breasts in James lower chest and pulling James impossibly close and he did the same. James took a last whiff of her hair, squeezed her waist with his hands and let go of her. Lily looked directly into his eyes and he into hers. Neither of them were ashamed of their feelings for each other. And they conveyed this perfectly to each other in that brief eye contact. Lily smiled a little and said "Bye" in a hushed tone.

"I'll see you at the Diagon Ally, yeah?"

"Yeah I'll write to you when I'll be coming." Lily replied.

James got into the car, but not before taking her hands in his and squeezing it. The driver drove away. James laid his head back fell asleep instantly. The car almost smelled of caramel and roses. James smiled.

"Did I just meet my future son-in-law?" Mr. Evans said to his wife. Lily had gone to see James out.

"I always said that they would end up together." Mrs. Evans said smugly, "she just wouldn't shut up about him. Potter this, Potter that."

"Well let's see. She said he was just a friend."

Dinner that night was very quiet. So was the night for both, Lily and James. They were still recovering from the new fantasies which kept popping up in their heads, after they had fresh memories of each other.

 **A/N : The new chapter. Hope you guys like it. Do tell me if you do or even if you don't. The next update: 16th...thanks for the reviews Lara.x and THE GUEST(as you put it). Thanks for reading guys. Until then...byee...love you all.**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

 _Lily Evans. Head Girl._ The badge which sat in Lily's lap, read. All these years she had waited for this badge. Maintained her goody two shoes reputation for it. And now when there was a letter lying in her lap she thought it was some prank.

"Lily are you coming down?" Mrs. Evans said, peering into Lily's bedroom. Lily didn't say anything. Mrs. Evans walked over to Lily took the two letters from her and squealed, hugging and kissing Lily. Hearing so much commotion Mr. Evans came upstairs and somewhat in the same manner congratulated Lily. After getting a queer sense of confidence from her family Lily allowed herself a smile and within a moment she realised that _she had become HEAD GIRL!_ And a sudden energy filled the room when Lily started jumping up and down on her bed and her first thoughts were to tell James.

She took out a piece of parchment and began writing.

 _Dearest James,_ *too cheeky*

 _Dear James,_ *formal*

 _James,_ *too rude to use after that day*

 _Jaaaames, James, James, James, James,James,_

 _You won't believe it. Guess what! Come on.! Try harder._

She paused and thought. _Harder? Does it sound...?_ So she scratched out 'try harder' and continued.

 _Use your brains. Okay. It's not your cup of tea. I'll have to tell you after all. I got my letter. And I'm Head Girl. HEAD GIRL. I'm freaking out James. I didn't even believe it when I got that. I thought someone was playing a horrible prank on me. But maybe it is true. All these years I've done everything to make sure I get this badge. But now that I have it, I don't know what to do with it. And do you have any idea who the Head Boy is? I wish he isn't a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff? No they are soo...you know...not-active sorts...and I don't think there'd be anyone from Gryffindor. I mean have there ever been Heads from the same house? Probably not. But Remus could make it I guess. I'd be happy to have him as partner. But...but...the Heads they get their own private dormitories. Did you know that? Merlin James, I don't want to live in a separate dorm. I'm addicted to our midnight chats in the common room. I could always come around but it wouldn't be the same you know. *long sigh*. I don't know what to do, I'm so clueless right now. Anyway, I'll be going to Diagon Ally tomorrow. Does it sound okay to you?_

 _P.S. : I had a great time yesterday._

 _Lily,_

 _Head Girl,_

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

She beckoned her own owl, Tess, tied the letter to her legs, "James, give it to him, okay?" And the owl flew away.

James, Sirius, Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter were sitting on the breakfast counter, shell shocked. This was the last thing they had expected from their son. And then Mr. Potter got up and clapped James on his back.

"Happens, son, my condolences." Mr. Potter said and everyone fell into fits of laughter. The air in the room felt much lighter to breathe after this. But James couldn't get this straight. _How can he be Head Boy, he wasn't even a Prefect._ He was sure Dumbledore had gone off his rocker. _What was he thinking._ James had no clue, what was he even suppose to do? Should he write a letter back, thanking the Headmaster or should he write to the Head of the House to give the news. But surely Dumbledore would have told McGonagall, James thought. His mind was a blank page right now. Deep down he was scared. Sure he'd been able to pursue what he's wanted. Most notorious kid :Accomplished. Playboy: Accomplished. Perfect grades: Accomplished.

Girl of dreams: Accomplished(more or less)

But Head Boy. This was never on his list. He didn't know who might be his Head Girl. It can't be a Gryffindor as never has it been that the Heads belong to the same House, not to his knowledge. He then wondered about. _Lily_ had always wanted to be Head Girl. And if he considers the above logic, that would mean that Lily isn't the Head Girl. The thought infuriated him. How can _he,_ become Head Boy when he never worked for it; and why can't Lily become Head Girl when she's devoted her life to this.

"James dear are you alright." Mrs. Potter asked, eyeing the letter in James hands which he was crushing with all his might, in his anger.

"Yeah I'm fine." James said and threw the letter away.

"Wow man, even you betrayed me. First Moony now you. Seems it's just me and wormy." Sirius said.

James smiled. He looked at his friend who now looked a bit low and patted his back.

"I'm Head Boy Padfoot. And it sure has its own advantages." James said giving his friend a mischievous grin. Sirius brightened instantly. And together they ran into Sirius' room to discuss all the potential plans of playing pranks in their last year of Hogwarts.

After they'd spent nearly two hours, Sirius said he had to go, meet Hestia. James had teased him but Sirius like always, dismissed it with a wave of his hand and left. After a while when James went up to his room he saw Tess, Lily's snowy white owl. He stroked her beak affectionately and untied the letter Lily had sent him.

"Looks like your friend couldn't keep her mind off me, huh?"

James opened the letter and began reading it.

**reactions**

 _Jaaaames, James, James, James, James,James,_

: Okay she's happy.

 _I'm Head Girl._

: Jumped of the bed and read the line over and over again. He couldn't believe his luck. Lily and him paired up? He had thought that same House can't have both the Heads. But apparently he was wrong. And he'd never been happier about being wrong than now. He felt so happy for Lily. And for themselves.

 _But...but...the Heads they get their own private dormitories. Did you know that?_

: What?! The Heads get separate dorms. This piece of information was treasure. He felt so light headed and giddy. He couldn't wait to tell her but he'll wait. He'll let it be a surprise and tell her whenever the Heads are scheduled to meet for the first time, officially.

 _P.S. : I had a great time yesterday._

James smiled at this. He couldn't do anything else. The feeling of her petite, curvy, beautiful body pressed up against him and her smartass comebacks with passion and wit intertwined in them, had haunted him every second that he'd spent after yesterday. He couldn't forget their last physical encounter. Her ever so smooth skin underneath his fingers, her nose pressing into the side of his neck, her breathing hard and throaty, her breasts pressing against his body. It was intoxicating, and James had thought he'd lose all his self control when he squeezed her waist and could feel her nipples digging into his chest like small pebbles. He hadn't let go of her until he had slightly brushed his chest against her nipples giving her sparks of pleasure, making her gasp and tremble. But what felt maddening to him was she had looked him straight in the eye. Her arousal, desire purring out from her eyes her which were dark now. She hadn't shied away from him. Her skin flushed, eyes dark, her chest heaving with her short breaths but she didn't look embarrassed. Which made James feel like she had given him a sort of power over her. Something he had never felt with any other girl. Reluctantly, he brought his mind to the present. And wrote a reply to her telling her that he had no idea who the Head Boy was. And that he was glad and sad that she was Head Girl. He sent the letter. Tomorrow he'd meet her again.

"What are you trying to do?" Lily said giggling.

"Wait."

And again, within a moment, everything went into chaos. James and Lily ducked down and made their way out of the shop. There were weird shrieking noises coming from the women's section. When Lily asked what he'd done he told her he had managed to charm a green slimy liquid which looked like a drain's discharge but actually it wasn't even there. If anyone tried to touch it, it would vanish.

"And the best part is-" James was cut off by Lily.

"-no one would try to touch it." Lily completed. She looked at James in a dead pan serious expression. James got a bit scared. And then she suddenly started chorusing, "Yaaayyaya.!" And laughed out when James gave her a fake angry expression.

 _She always laughs at my angry expression. Note taken._ James thought to himself.

Today, neither of them had hugged each other when they met. They had seen each other when they were a few yards away. Their eyes had done all the communicating that needed. James walked towards her very leisurely taking his time while she had almost sauntered over to him. There eyes leaving each other's only to roam their gazes on the other one's walking form. Their heart beat had skipped a few beats initially. But then they had lost the count. With almost every step their insides were tingling with anticipation of what might come when they reached the other. But nothing had happened. They had been very heedful not to touch each other all through the day. Their throats have gone dry with waiting. But they did not touch the other. They knew what they were doing. They were building tension only to release it with all fervour and zeal in their final good byes today.

Sirius and Remus had joined them when they were eating ice cream of the money James had given her for the bet. She bought ice creams for them too and then all three of them Lily, James and Remus had pestered Sirius for more details about his friendship with Hestia.

"Okay..yes..yes..Hestia and I are together now." Sirius had admitted surrendering, raising his hands up in defeat.

"Seems even you possess the ability to bring about doomsday." Lily remarked much to the amusement of Sirius.

"Do you know who the Head Boy is?" Lily asked.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other. They both knew. And then Sirius said, "Why Lily, don't _you_ know who the Head Boy is.?" Sirius said with a lot of exaggeration.

Sirius saw James give him a warning look and immediately knew James hadn't told her yet and wasn't planning on telling her now.

"Do _you_ know?" Lily asked Sirius, hope and apprehension evident in her eyes.

"NO.! Why would I know such trivial things. You have dishonoured me." Sirius shouted at her pointing an accusing finger at her. They all had laughed.

"Who's Head Girl?" Remus asked.

Lily became a bit shifty.

"Who do you think. Obviously Lily. Now you have dishonoured her Moony. Apologize to EVANS.!" James said coming to rescue Lily, intentionally adding the finishing touch. All four of them stood their shaking with laughter, becoming a show to the passer bys.

"My apologies Lily and congratulations."

"Yeah Evans, congrats. And now that you are Head Girl would you mind relaxing the curfew hours for your friends." Sirius said gesturing to the three marauders standing their.

"If only the Head Boy isn't an arse." Lily said. And the marauders exchanged knowing looks.

"Don't worry Evans I'll have him in my pocket before you could say his name."

"I hope you do Black." Lily said, her voice betraying her amusement.

Hestia had joined them an hour later and so had Peter. While Sirius had left with Hestia and Remus with Peter to help buying his stuff, James and Lily were left alone again. After talking about random stuff, it was time to say goodbyes. And for the first time it occurred to them that they had been actually _waiting_ to say their goodbyes when they had hugged again, held each other a little too longer, a little too tighter. Trying to merge their body into one. Lily had her arms around James neck pulling him impossibly close, while James did the same with his arms around Lily's back. A little too lower than usual. At this rate they couldn't manage to get enough oxygen through their nasal tract and had to breathe with their mouth open, their lips brushing each other's neck. James, overcome by lust, nipped at her neck. Lily dug her nails into his neck making him groan.

"We have...to..leave." Lily said, completely out breath, her lips so close to his ears that they caressed his ears hinting at her want.

"Hmm." That was all James could manage. _What was he to do?_ He had Lily in his arms, offering him her body, mind and soul enveloped in his love, tied with the ribbons of passion and lust. And he knew that he'd worship her, her body. He had reached a point of no-return. He couldn't take rejection from her. He _wouldn't_ take rejection from her.

"James..my dad would be here to pick me." Lily said but pulled him closer. She couldn't bare to be away from him. She knew her heart had belonged to him way back. But now she had given to him her body and control over her because she knew he wouldn't mistreat her. She didn't want to let go him. But James loosened his hold. Much as he looked the immature one, he was the one, more mature between them.

Her dad came. James greeted him. He held the door of the car for Lily. Placed his hand on the small of her back to help her get in. Held her bags and gave them to her when she settled in the car. Waved them bye. When they were gone James covered his face with his hands and shook his head.

*King's Cross*

Lily had boarded the Hogwarts Express and there was no sign of James and Sirius. Apparently they would be getting on the train at the last moment and meeting her after the prefects' meeting. That made her nervous. All her friends had been brimming with excitement when they had noticed the badge on Lily's robes. But she was desperate to find out who the Head Boy was. None of her friends knew or the other acquaintances she had asked. There was a high possibility that it could be a Slytherin if no one knew. She couldn't live with a Slytherin. She will ask Dumbledore to shift her back in the Gryffindor tower. Yes. That would do. He was a wise man. He would understand. It was 3 minutes before the meeting. Alice gave her a reassuring hug.

Lily moved towards the Heads Compartment. When she reached there, she peeped through the glass. She could see a lean body. Slightly muscular. Dark messy hair. Her heart was pounding against her chest. She looked down at his hands. A small golden snitch between sat his fingers.

 _Don't worry Evans I'll have him in my pocket before you could say his name._ Sirius' words kept repeating themselves in her brain. When she opened the door the boy's head turned. She looked into those apprehensive hazel eyes with shock evident in her own green ones. She looked down at his chest. James Potter- Head Boy. The badge read.

 **A/N: Hey guys. The new chapter. Hope you guys liked it. Do tell me.**

 **Lara.x, amroberts17, KellyDraco, THE GUEST, and the new guest. Thank you for the reviews. You guys just make my day. Also, yes, I spelled 'reparo' wrong. Apologies. I've reparo-ed the spelling in that chapter. Thanks for telling me that. As usual thanks for reading, following or favourite-ing and also letting me know that you like the story. Next update: 19th maybe. I've my exam on 18th. Until then...byee..love ya..**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"Potter?" Lily said out loud.

James flinched at the sound of his last name coming from Lily's mouth. He shrugged.

"I see a lot of pranks coming this year." Lily said shaking her head. She and James looked at each other, and the next moment found them sprawled on the floor, in gales of laughter. They were rolling on the floor, in foetal position struggling to let oxygen in their systems. When they finally recovered they sat down on the floor of the compartment, beside each other, cross legged.

"Is this a joke James?"

"I will talk to Dumbledore about this. Definitely. But you? No Lily you were made for this job and this is not a joke when it comes to you." James said placing the palm of his hands on her knee. Lily's toes curled on their own accord. And it was then that she remembered. She and James would live in their private dormitory. Just the thought of it had Lily squirming in her place.

"A bit uncomfortable, isn't it?" James said when he noticed Lily squirming. Lily nodded and they got off the floor settling in the seats, sitting opposite to each other.

 _Private Dormitory._ That was the only thing on Lily's mind all throughout the prefects meeting. Lily had written down all the patrols and meetings to be scheduled for the next two weeks and had asked James to announce it. As usual the perfect partner James did an excellent job, often passing comments, mocking himself. _How on earth would they behave in a private dormitory._ Did James know that they'd get a separate dormitory? Of course he did. She told him.

The rest of the train ride was a blur for Lily. After the prefects' meeting James and Lily had gone back to their friends and had met only in the Great Hall when Dumbledore had introduced the Heads to the school. The school had looked transfixed when the Head Boy was introduced and Dumbledore had chuckled at James shifty demeanour. Lily and James had told their friends about the Heads Dormitory. Alice had looked worried that Lily would have to live with the guy who has made her question her feelings about him. While Sirius and Remus had wolf whistled at this information. When it was time to leave for the dormitories professor McGonagall had escorted them to the Heads' Dormitory _._ It was like the Gryffindor common room and dormitories but more so plush and had an air of grandeur about it. As if they were seeing everything with a magnifying glass.

"Wow."

"Wow." They both had chorused together.

"It's highly unlikely that the Heads are from the same house. This is not the dormitory that the other Heads had lived in. This is the Gryffindor Heads dormitory which is used only when the Heads are from Gryffindor. Congratulations you two." Professor McGonagall had told them and had left. Lily was looking towards the bathroom. There was only one. She had her back to James and she didn't want to turn. She had no idea what would he say or _do._

"Is there just one bathroom?" James asked.

"Seems so."

"Shall we go see the rooms?" James suggested.

"Er..okay."

Together they went up the stairs of the dormitory on the right side. The door read

 _Head Girl Lily Evans (bookworm)._

Lily at the door, aghast.

"BOOKWORM?" she screeched. All the while, James had a hard time standing up straight as he was laughing with all his might. Lily playfully pushed James back making him stumble and almost fall.

Together they explored each other's room (innocently). The sign on James door read.

 _Head Boy James Potter (prank master)_

James had looked smug at his title making Lily to roll her eyes and shove him back again.

They had then walked back to the common room and Lily had taken her usual seat on the floor with her back resting against the sofa. James was on the sofa lying upside down with his legs up in the air resting on the back rest of the sofa and his head lolling down from the sofa beside Lily's arms.

"So.." James said.

"So?" Lily asked.

"Are you happy about the Head Girl thing?"

"I don't know. I'm just so clueless right now. I mean how do I deal with so much responsibility? It's unnerving." Lily said, shuddering.

"I know, I remember the time I was made quidditch captain. I've always wanted to become quidditch captain but when I really did become the captain I didn't know where to start. There was no one to tell me what to do. And now I am...lost. You know being a prefect was never on my list let alone Head Boy. It still feels a bit surreal." James said.

"We can make through this." Lily said shrugging.

James sat up and he sank into the sofa. He groaned with pleasure. This was way better than the Gryffindor tower.

"You really should try this." He said as he began jumping up on the sofa, making the cushions flying around.

"Stop it James." Lily said as a cushion hit her head.

James stopped jumping. He looked tired.

"I think I'll go sleep. And you too. It's going to be a tiring year ahead. Get as much sleep as you can." James said winking at her. He got up letting his hand slide across her shoulder. And went upstairs to his dormitory.

*A Week Later*

James went paranoid as soon as he came to know that their first match of the quidditch season was with Slytherin. He had scheduled the practice the moment he read the notice. Lily had assured him that she would take care of all the meetings and the Heads work and that James could concentrate on the match. James had hugged her and thanked her.

This week had been the most busy week of her Hogwarts' life. She could hardly talk to her friends. Teachers had loaded them with home work saying that it was N.E.W.T.s this year and it would affect their life long career. James and Lily could talk only in the patrolling hours and even that included talks of studies and home works. But even with all this madness the chocolate frogs wouldn't stop making frequent appearance in Lily's bag. And neither did their normal ritual of participating in the classes together die away. They still would be the one to finish their tasks first earning stacks of points for Gryffindor. But James and the other marauders would make sure that they'd lose at least some of those points by their habitual pranking.

James had scheduled the practice for today. Lily was packing her things to reach the pitch on time.

"Hey there." James said to Jess, "where's everyone else?"

"Dunno. I just met Casper. He said he'd be here in a moment," Jess replied, "how's it going with Lily? You two seem to have something going on, eh?"

James just smiled and shook his head.

"Hey James let's make out." Jess said playfully, imitating Lily's voice, placing an arm around his shoulders. She was looking at him trying to control her laugh at James clueless expression.

" Really James if Lily would say that to you would you just stand their gawking like an idiot?"

"Trust me, Jessica, if it was Lily, by this time we'd be under the covers."

Jessica pulled out herself from under his arm and wolf whistled. She laughed out when James slapped a hand to his mouth when he realised what he'd said.

"Wow someone's got our bad British boy wrapped around her fingers." Jess said. By this time most of the team had arrived. James looked around to see whether Lily was here or not. She wasn't.

Lily had watched the whole exchange between Jessica and James. She couldn't hear anything but she saw Jess giving James a suggestive look. She couldn't see James face but he didn't protest when Jessica wrapped her arm around James shoulders. She couldn't see it anymore. She turned on her heels and left immediately. She started walking fast towards the castle.

 _Why would he want her now? Why would she matter to him now that he'd seen she was nothing but another girl. A common place girl with plain features and red hair like a clown. Probably anything between them never meant anything to him. How can she forget, he's James Potter. Known for dumping girls after making them fall for him. Sirius was better. He'd dump them before they could assess their feelings for him. But James. He...why didn't she...she's been so blind...he never liked her..._

These thoughts kept popping up in her head until she reached her dormitory and collapsed on her bed. Her heart ached as if trying to free itself from the chains she put around it after watching James with Jessica. She sat up on her bed reached in her drawer and took out the bracelet James had given her for Christmas. It was beautiful. Lily sat their looking at the bracelet. Maybe he just wanted to be friends. He never really said it out loud that he liked her more than a friend. She shouldn't encroach on his freedom. He sure could talk or snog other girls. She never told him exactly that she liked him. How was he to know. This had always been the problem with Lily. She was always too late. She was still looking at the bracelet when her vision was blurred by the tears trying to coax their way out. Silently they rolled down the length of her nose and dropped on the bracelet. It wasn't those howling cry she could cry when she thought that she didn't matter to anyone. It was a silent cry. A cry which said she was late again. She placed the bracelet back in the drawer silently and lay down on her bed, curling up, closing her eyes, trying to ignore the dull thumping her heart made as if it too was about to give up. She fell asleep and saw those hazels yet again. But they weren't close to her eyes. They were standing at someplace far. She tried to reach out to them but they took a step back. At one point she gave up. She turned around and hid behind something trying not to be discovered and silently watched those hazels eyes which seemed happy without her. Lily didn't feel the tears that escaped her closed eyes which were dreaming.

 _Where is she?_ James was growing restless with every passing minute. He would look around the pitch frequently only to see empty stands. _Maybe she had other work to do._ His rational brain told him. When he got back there was no sign of Lily at the dinner. He asked Alice, Hestia and Marlene. But no one knew Lily's whereabouts. Worried he walked back to the Heads' dormitory where he found Lily sitting on her study table writing something.

"Merlin woman, where were you today?"

Lily jolted upright at hearing James voice.

"Had a lot of work." Lily said indicating her surroundings which were flooded with books.

 _Act normal. Act normal._ Lily kept repeating this in her mind.

"You didn't come down for dinner."

"Yeah, didn't feel like it."

"Is there something wrong Lily?"

Lily looked up with a questioning glance which mirrored James'.

"No. Why would something be wrong?"

 _He's just being a good friend._ She told herself.

Lily was a good actor and she knew it. She had decided to act naturally around James. Be friends with him. She hadn't anticipated that it would be difficult. Now that James was sitting in front of her she ached to reach out and touch him. But she checked herself.

James knew something was utterly wrong. He wanted to take Lily in his arms and hum soothing words to her. But she looked oddly off. As if she was pushing everyone away and didn't want to talk.

"You know you could talk to me about it, don't you?" James said.

"It's nothing James," Lily sighed, "it's just that suddenly I'm drowning in work. I've never felt so tired of books. I used to love reading even if it was for homework. But now it just feels like a burden." Lily lied through her teeth.

"You should have come down for the practice. The weather was pleasant today. Anyway, should we go for the patrols? It's almost time."

"Yeah."

Throughout the patrol James noticed that Lily was acting very oddly. He couldn't put his finger on what exactly was troubling her. He knew she never spoke up about her feelings but this was so out of place. She used to love patrols unlike other prefects. She was talking but she seemed a million light years away.

He'd never seen her in such a sombre state.

He was wrong. She was even more dull and gloomy the next day and the day after that. She would talk. She would always reply to whatever he had to say to her but she lacked those suggestive stares and innocent bitter sweet remarks. She wouldn't look him in the eye. This drove him out of his mind. He tried to confront her many a times but she slipped away from the situation as subtly as possible. Today was no different.

When it was time for the patrols James decided to pursue this matter tonight at all costs.

 **A/N: Hey guys...so here's the new chapter...sorry I'm a bit late...but it was a bloody lengthy exam and I slept all through the day yesterday and wrote this today. Lara.x, amroberts17, Kelly Draco, THE GUEST, the new guest, bookohlic, thanks for the reviews.**

 **THE GUEST: YES! this year's going to be verrrry fun. *snickers***

 **Kelly Draco: I think I should hand you over to the authorities. But since you like my fic, i won't.**

 **Above everything, thanks for reading guys. Do tell me if you liked the chapter or if you didn't.**

 **Next update: 21 or 22.**

 **Until then..byee...love ya all.**


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

When Lily and James were returning from their patrol James decided to confront her. She had been talking again. All about the transfiguration essay and Defense Against the Dark Arts spells. She hadn't given him a chance to speak anything. But she was silent now. So James stopped dead in his tracks and Lily did too.

"What is it?" She asked.

"No. You tell me what is it?" James asserted.

"What do you mean, James?"

"You know what I mean, Lily. What is up with you. Tell me."

"Nothing James I've told you this already."

"I am not a fool. I can tell something's gone horribly wrong with you and I have a feeling it has got something to do with me."

Lily looked at James trying to decide whether she should tell him or not. James then took Lily's hand in his.

"Lils tell me what's wrong. I can't see you like this." James said.

Lily caved in and said, "I saw you with Jessica on the quidditch pitch. That day when I didn't come to watch the practice. She put an arm around you and you didn't seem to mind. I'm sorry James if I'm overreacting but I understand if you just wanted us to be friends." Lily finished. She was on the verge of tears and wanted nothing else except run back to her dorm and cry. But James still held her hand. When she looked up at him, he seemed angry.

James heart danced a small happy dance when he thought about Lily being jealous of Jessica. But he was angry beyond anything. How can she think, that after their passionate goodbyes and their non verbal cues that they like each other, he would still be interested in other girls. Didn't he tell her that he'd live by her side all life long. What would it take to make her realise that she is the only girl his heart recognises as its owner. He knew Lily didn't notice that guys practically drooled after her and even if she did notice she would never admit it. She had never thought herself to be beautiful. And then James was angry at himself. Did he do such a bad job at making Lily feel she was the most beautiful girl. A sudden surge of determination took over him and he decided that he'll show her just how much he loves her. He dropped her hand and then held it by her wrist. He then pulled her along to a broom closet, pulled her in along with himself and closed the door. He turned her around so her back was to his front and her face pressed up against the wall of the cupboard.

Lily was bewildered when James dragged her away into a broom closet. He looked angry. But even with his rough callused hand gripping her wrist so tightly, she could feel a certain reassurance in his hold. A certain gentle undertone in his body language, that he won't hurt her. The reason why she didn't retaliate. Both her hands were on the side of her head with James' grip on them. Slowly he intertwined his fingers with hers. Lily couldn't see anything. She could feel James body pressed up against her back, engulfing her in his heat. Her body had started reacting way before her mind could process anything. James stepped back a little and allowed Lily to do so too. Then he forced her head down with his, and let her hair fall to either side of her head revealing the back of her neck. James inhaled sharply at the sudden invasion of her scent in the closet. He took his time inhaling her. And very, very slowly, for the first time, allowed his lips to kiss the back of her neck. He didn't move his lips. He let them rest at that spot. He started moving down her neck, not once pulling up, leaving a trail of wet, glistening path on her neck. He couldn't reach the nape of her neck, so he guided Lily's hand to her shirt and placed it over her first button. It was Lily's decision to take. And she obliged immediately, undoing the first, and to James surprise, the second button too. James left her hands and pulled her shirt off her shoulders so that her shirt just hung off of her upper arms. He continued with his kisses and when he reached the nape of her neck, he kissed it and then sucked her there. Lily let out a guttural moan. Encouraged by this James reached to the side of her neck and kept kissing and sucking her until he reached the back of her right ear. He bit her earlobe gently and turned her head towards himself. He then started kissing her jawline. He turned her around slowly and looked at her. She was aroused beyond anything. She wasn't ashamed and neither was she angry at him. That was all he needed to know. He reached up to undo her third button but he looked at her for her permission. She nodded. James did the third, fourth and the rest of the buttons, and slid her shirt off completely. He stepped back and let his eyes roam over her almost naked frame. _Man, is she voluptuous._ He thought. She had full round breasts and the most beautiful waistline which looked as if it had been carved out by an artist. Her flawless skin, save for some little freckles, made James lose his mind all over again. He wanted to kiss every single one of her freckles. He stepped towards her and placed both his hands on her waist. He kissed her forehead. And then began kissing down to nose. When he reached her lips, he let his lips hover over hers. But he didn't kiss her. _Not yet._ He thought. He kissed every inch of her face. Her eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, temples, chin. He reached behind her head, tugged at her hair to slightly pull her head back, as he started to kiss her under her chin down to the dimple of her neck. He bent down slightly, placing wet kisses on her chest down to between her breasts. Lily arched her back as he reached her breasts trying to make him kiss her nipples which were stretching the fabric of her bra trying to rip it open. But he went further south down to her stomach and finally dropped to his knees in front of her. He faced her stomach, his nose at the same level as her belly button. He grabbed her hips brought her forward to himself and dug his nose in her belly button and wrapped his arms around her pulling her to him. They stood like that for a minute before James stroked the back of her knees, his fingers inching up under her skirt. But he stopped himself and got up letting his hand drag along the length of her thighs. He stopped midway through getting up and positioned himself right in front of her breasts. He let his forehead rest on her chest slightly towards the right, deciding whether or not to take her bra off. He decided against it. In a sudden move he had Lily's right nipple in his mouth sucking it through the fabric of her bra. Lily gasped. James smiled when he remembered his thoughts back in his fifth year about which colour bra Lily wore. _Black._ He'd been sure. And she did. She was wearing a black bra. James nursed the other nipple too in the same manner until her bra was soaked in his wetness. He finally stood up looking into her green eyes. He was sure that if he forgets her and meets her like a stranger, he'd still fall for her thanks to those captivating eyes. He leaned in towards her. And placed his lips on hers. He didn't move them. Just let them rest on her lips. He let their breathing take a rest. When their breathing slowed down he pressed his lips to her with Lily mirroring his action. Very slowly he lifted his lips off her. She moaned in disappointment and he chuckled. Then he placed his lips on the right corner of her upper lip kissing it all the way to the left corner and did the same to her bottom lip from left to right. He took turns in sucking and biting them. He brought one of his hands which were roaming around over her body to hold her jaw in one place as he tilted her head to her right and kissed her deep. He could tell Lily was inexperienced in this domain which turned him on even more so. He slipped his tongue in between her lips impatient to taste her innocence. She let him in. And very slowly he let his tongue enter her warm, guileless mouth, ignorant of the pleasures of flesh. Gently he probed her tongue and she let her tongue slide in his mouth which was laced with the evidence of his passionate rendezvous on her body. Their tongues danced around to the rhythm of lust and innocence. Her hands reached up to his hair, fisting it. Lily bit his lower lip and let her teeth rake it as he broke their lip lock making him groan in pleasure. As their breathing resumed to its normal pace they looked at each other.

When Lily looked into James eyes she saw absolute and pure adoration void of any dishonesty. It wasn't the like the primal, lustful look there was in his eyes sometime before. It was pure and simple love.

James let Lily see him. He didn't hide anything. Just stood there to let Lily look into his eyes to let her know that there couldn't be anyone else for him. A tear leaked out of her eye. He pulled her into a hug. Letting her cry in his arms. After a while when Lily looked up at him he said, "Lils, you are it for me. There's no one else and never can be," he kept stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers while he spoke, "I love you Lily. I always have loved you, from the moment I first saw you till every other moment of my life since then." He stopped letting the words register into Lily's mind.

"You don't have to say it back, Lily," he added quickly, "I've loved you since our first year. It's been seven years now, the reason why I don't feel awkward saying this to you. It has sort of sunk into my skin that I love you. But you just have considered me your friend since last year. Take your time Lily. Don't rush." He finished pressing an affectionate kiss on her forehead. After days of watching a dull Lily he was finally rewarded with her smile, tears twinkling in her eyes. They held each other for another minute or so before James wiped off her face with the sleeve of his shirt. He picked up her shirt, helped her put it on, buttoned her up, untangled her hair with his fingers, held open the door for her. When they got out no one spoke. James took her hand in his and they walked back to their dormitories in a peaceful silence. When they were in their common room James planted a chaste kiss on her lips and they said their goodbyes.

They didn't sleep last night wondering if their significant other was thinking about them. And then they would smile because they knew that the other one was thinking of them indeed.

When Lily went to her room she couldn't wait to take her shirt off. She wanted to touch herself where James had touched her. And she did. She locked her door and slept without any cloths on loving the way her body felt ticklish all over.

James was ecstatic and couldn't remember when he fell asleep. When he had last checked the time it was five in the morning. He kept wondering what Lily was doing. But had let the matter rest.

He wanted to know how would Lily react the next morning. And Lily had no idea how would she react.

 **A/N: The new chapter guys. Thanks for the reviews THE GUEST, amroberts17,Lara.x.**

 **Lara.x: *to your P.S.* tired already? Anyways, honestly I don't know how many chapters. You tell me how many do you want there to be.**

 **And I don't know what should I write now. Should I end it with an epilogue sort of thing in the next chapter or do you want me to take it through their relationship in the seventh year? Tell me all that you could think I could use in the story line. There will be a next chapter but you guys would have to tell me what should I do. So the next update by-25th.**

 **As always thanks for reading guys...love ya...byee..**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Lily woke up to the sound of someone knocking on door. Lily got up and walked to the door but realised it just in time that she had slept naked and she still had no clothes on.

"Lily..get up."

It was James' voice coming for the other side of the door. His voice sent delicious shivers down her spine. She relayed the moments of last night in her mind and let out a very soft, inaudible moan. _Knock._ The knock made Lily jump.

"Yeah James. I heard you. I just got up. I'll see you at breakfast?" Lily asked him with the door still closed.

"Okay. Are you okay?" James asked, a bit worried that she might be angry at him.

"Yeah I'm okay..just need some time."

"Oh..okay." James said a bit relieved.

When Lily walked down to go to the bathroom to get a shower she saw that James didn't leave for breakfast and was sitting on a sofa. A delicious shiver ran down her insides when she saw his fingers tapping the armrest ever so slightly. He had his back to her and didn't know she was down until she walked around him to the bathroom. She felt his eyes on her.

James saw Lily walk into the bathroom with her uniform. She didn't once look at him. He wondered if she _is_ really angry with him for yesterday. He had some chocolate frogs with him which he planned on putting in her bag. And along with that he had packed(not in a neat manner) those earrings. _But if she kept ignoring him like this he'd have to cancel this particular gift._ He thought. The bathroom door unlocked and Lily came out in her uniform. This time she looked at him and smiled blushing a lovely shade of crimson. James heart soared. When she lifted her hand to tie her hair in a pony James saw she was wearing the bracelet he gave her for Christmas. It looked even more beautiful on her wrist. It was goblin made. She didn't know. She was a muggle born and hence she couldn't tell the difference. Not that James wanted to tell her. He knew her too well. She would return such an expensive gift.

"Shall we go?" Lily asked dragging James away from his thoughts. When they were climbing out of the portrait hole James put his hand on the small of her back and she leaned in to his touch. On their way none of the two touched each other. They seemed content with each other's presence. Of course they would have loved to touch each other but they didn't crave for that touch. They weren't insecure now, that the other one would walk away. Halfway through their walk they found Sirius, Hestia walking to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Hey mate, hi Lily." Sirius said.

"Hi Sirius, Hest." Lily said giving her brightest smile to the pair of them.

"Whoa Evans, haven't seen you smile for what feels like forever and now you've become all sunshine smiles. What changed overnight?" Sirius asked with a suggestive smirk.

Lily's smile faltered a bit and she felt blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"Where's Moony?" James asked to change the subject. They didn't know about yesterday. Lily gave him a small grateful smile. He, very surreptitiously, reached out and tucked a strand of Lily's locks behind her ear. She shuddered just a little before coming back to her calm posture. Neither Hestia nor Sirius n noticed this exchange between the two.

"He had gone down with wormy."

James and Sirius started discussing quidditch and their match against Slytherin while Hestia kept talking to Lily about her relationship with Sirius. By now the whole school knew that the marauder named Sirius Black has a serious (no pun intended) relationship with Hestia whom he called his 'girlfriend'. Remus and James were beyond happy to to find out that Sirius had finally matured a bit. When they reached the Great Hall they found Remus and Peter sitting with Marlene, Alice and Frank. Sirius, Hestia, Lily and James took the seats opposite to the rest of their seats. Hestia and Lily sat in between Sirius and James.

"Hi everyone." Remus said pleasantly.

The rest of them greeted everyone back. Everybody was a bit taken aback by Lily's glowing smile but none of them questioned it.

James saw Lily's left hand resting on her thigh. _Just grab it._ James felt like a fool. Why was he always afraid of her? Any other girl would probably jump into his arms and snog his brains out by now. But this is Lily Evans. Had she been like any other girl, James doubted he'd have the hots for her. _Reach out and grab the damn hand. No one will know if she snatches her hand away or if she let's you hold it._ He reached out to grab her hand but in that very moment Sirius asked her to pass the pumpkin juice and she lifted her hands from her thigh, making James hand land on her thighs. Her skirt had ridden up when she bent towards her right to give that pumpkin juice. His hands were on her bare thigh. He didn't want to do that but it sort of happened. He was ready for Lily shout at him about him being a pervert and that she never wants to see his face again and all that crap she said to make him feel like he'd lost a battle. But what happened was completely unexpected. Lily didn't push James away rather she very lightly shifted towards James enjoying his warm hands on her thigh. James was transfixed at this. He couldn't believe that Lily not only let his hands rest their but she also moved closer to him all the while talking to her friends calmly with the slightest hint of blush rising in her cheeks. James did not dare move his hands but couldn't help himself from feeling her cool skin with his warm hands. So he started caressing her thigh. His left hand was struggling with his pudding but he didn't mind as long as he could touch Lily. He saw her closing her eyes in pleasure as he caressed her. She was talking to her friends without a break, her friends being oblivious to what was going on under the table. Lily was finished with her breakfast but none of her friends were so she said she would wait for them and then they could go for their classes together. She rested her chin on her right hand while talking to her friends and with her left one she reached out for James' hand which was still roaming around the plains of her leg. He instantly grabbed her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. He then placed her hand flat on her thigh and placed his hands over hers. With that he started inching higher up her skirt with only his fingertips brushing against her skin. He reached for her inner thigh and when their hands were between her thighs she clasped her thighs closing around them. Taking this as his cue to end his journey James tried to gently lift his hands off but she gripped him tighter. James smiled inwardly. She wanted him to be just there. So he let his hands rest there, occasionally shifting his hands when she would be in a heated discussion with her friends, making her gasp and squirm in her seat. He loved every minute of this. Not once in all this time did James and Lily looked at each other. When everyone was leaving James gave her thigh a delicious squeeze making her exhale through her mouth.

All throughout the day on the way to their classes James and Lily would walk behind their friends. They walked a little too closer than usual. Their hands brushing together. Occasionally James would hook a finger or two with Lily's while walking so close that their flowing robes would cover it and wouldn't allow anyone else to see. It would make Lily's heart flutter. James felt like he could die a happy man now. He would hold the door for Lily or sit too close to her during their classes continuing what they started at breakfast or if not that they would just sit holding hands with the one of them struggling with their left hand. Once or twice their would meet in the classrooms and they knew it was dangerous because they couldn't look away from the each other's eyes. It was hypnotic. They couldn't look away unless the teacher brought them back to reality.

*Dumbledore's Office*

"Is it official? That they are dating?" asked Dumbledore.

"No Albus, but they were holding hands under the desk!" McGonagall stomped her foot down.

"I'll admit defeat when they make it official." Dumbledore said as chuckled to himself. He too had known that Lily and James would end up together. But he didn't want the old tradition to die away of wagering about stupid things with McGonagall.

"James.!" Lily turned towards him with a big smile.

"Yes Lily?"

"Chocolate frogs!"

"Amos, woman, I'm telling you it's Amos."

"You sure? Because I have a fair idea who it might be." Lily said with a smirk.

James bent down to her ear, "Oh yeah? Tell me Lils, who is it then?" He whispered with a triumphant smirk on his face too. He knew Lily would never let the fun go by saying it was him.

"A guy of course, 5' 11" tall, has black messy hair, hazel eyes."

"The one fondling your thigh at breakfast?" James asked.

Lily turned a bright shade of red at that comment. But she wasn't about to give in so easily.

"Yes. And the one I was with in a broom cupboard last night."

"In a broom cupboard? He's one lucky bloke." James said, pouting.

"What is it James? Are you jealous?"

They reached the Heads' dormitory after their patrols and Lily said the password.

"What? Jealous of myself? How can a man be jealous of himself Lily?" He said but Lily wasn't listening to him anymore.

She had found another packet wrapped in a gift wrap. The note read:

 _For my beloved redhead girl._

She opened the gift wrap and the box. Inside there were a pair of earrings. _Those earrings._ They had caught her sight when she was in her fourth year. She had forgotten about them when her friends bombarded her with questions about their dresses. She had ran back to that shop after realising she forgot to buy herself those earrings. But they had already been sold to someone else. Alice had apologised to her so much when she found out about it. She thought that she'd have them made when she starts to earn for herself. No other earrings had interested after she'd seen those. She thought she would never see them again. And here they were in her palms looking as beautiful as ever.

"James? Where did you get these?" Lily said almost in a whisper.

James turned around to see Lily standing there with the earrings in her hands.

"Um...I got these in our fourth year. You were looking at them and then you forgot to buy them. I didn't want anyone else other than you to have it. So I bought it the moment you left. I wanted to give these to you so many times but-"

James was cut off from his sentence as Lily wrapped her arms around him. He held her there and after some time when he realised she was crying a bit he lifted her up and carried her to the armchair, settling her in his lap. He stroked her hair softly as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. Finally she looked up with her red rimmed eyes, her eyelashes wet and wild with her tears, nose red, and her lips so pink and soft. _Damn, she looks so beautiful._ James thought. He leaned in and flicked her nose with his, affectionately and then rested his forehead on hers.

"Thank you James. This is the best gift anyone's ever given to me."

"You deserve the best Lils. Always. And there are so many other 'best' coming."

"No more gifts James. Don't spoil me. And why suddenly did you think of giving me this? You could have waited for my birthday."

"I'll spoil you baby. I have all rights over it. And I wanted to give you this whenever I told you that I loved you. I said that yesterday but I didn't have these with me last night." James shrugged as he said this. He took the earrings from her and helped her putting them on.

"You look lovely."

"Thanks." Lily said blushing slightly.

They sat in their warm embrace snuggling closer to each other as the fire died. They fell asleep in each other's arms. Sometime around one in the morning James woke up and found a sleeping Lily in his arms. She looked heavenly in dim light. He picked her up and carried her to her room. He tucked her into her bed, taking her shoes and socks off, opening the upper two buttons of her shirt. He thought of taking her shirt off but controlled himself. With a light kiss on her forehead he left for his room.

 **A/N: I am soo sorry guys it took me this long to update. But it was Holi. You guys know what Holi is? It's an Indian festival. And I was so busy with my cousins staying over at my place. Lara.x and RadishCoffee thanks for reviewing.**

 **I don't know if u guys are still sticking around to read my story so do tell me of what u think of this chapter.**

 **And also I didn't have time to re-read the chapter. So plz ignore stupid grammar mistakes for now.**

 **Next update: 3rd April *exams on 1st and 2nd***

 **As always thanks for reading...love ya...bye...**


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Lily and James decided to keep their relationship a secret and keep the entire school population wondering what was going on. Both of them agreed on this little fact that a secret relationship is indeed exciting. They would often play footsie under the Gryffindor table or keep brushing each other during classes. James would more than often pull Lily into deserted corridors and classrooms for some snogging session in the time between two classes. They would spend hours in the Heads Dormitories' common room cuddling with each other on the sofa. James would always play with a strand of Lily's hair twirling it in his fingers often tugging too hard to get her attention. She would give him an angry expression but James knew better and would kiss her until she had to push him away to get some air. And before she could recover he would pin her beneath him straddling her waist and snog her, sometimes too passionately. He loved it when her lips would look swollen and her face in a lovely shade of crimson, her breathing heavy making those breasts move up and down. He would then bend down again to kiss her but this time it would be more like worshipping her, soft and caring with chaste kisses.

There was one thing however that was bothering James. It was Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow and he couldn't muster up the courage to ask Lily out. He didn't know if she would be willing to go out with him so soon in their relationship. It was true that most of the relationships he'd seen had _begun_ with Hogsmeade dates. But _his_ relationship had been marred because of him asking Lily out to Hogsmeade. And besides they'd have to disclose their relationship if they went to Hogsmeade together. _The invisibility cloak._ James thought. But dismissed it. Lily wouldn't like the idea of her first date with him crouched uncomfortably in a cloak and getting pushed by people on the streets. He shook his head.

They had their DADA class and Lily was sitting with Alice. He was sitting in the row left to Lily's with a couple of seats behind hers.

 _"Your hair looks lovely darling."_

James wrote this with the ink the marauders had developed so the note directly gets written over the textbook of the person it is referred to. He had given this ink to Lily. She had been in awe of it.

 _"Let me study."_

She turned around to give him an angry look but smiled when James pouted like a child.

 _"Wanna go to the third floor? I've found a perfect place to snog."_

 _"Is that all what you think about?"_

 _"No."_

 _"What else do you think about then?"_

 _"More than just snog."_

Lily blushed a deep shade of red at this remark and her heart started its routine aerobics. She bent her head down to cover her face with her hair so James wouldn't see her blushing.

But it was too late. James had seen it and his own heart was doing a monkey dance now.

But Lily decided to pursue this. If he had made her uncomfortable, she too would return the pleasure.

 _"What about it?"_

It was _indeed_ James' turn to blush. He knew she was playing him.

 _"Ohh...you know I took your shirt off just once but there was still one piece of clothing left .. Ever since then I've wanted to see just how much more beautiful my girlfriend is.."_

 _"Why didn't you take it off back then?"_

 _"It would have been too much for you to take. Anyway I can still oblige if you want."_

 _"You are such a male."_

 _"Thanks baby, I nearly forgot I am a male."_

 _"James. Shut up now."_

 _"I'm bored."_

 _"Well we can skip lunch and go explore the "perfect place" that you've found. Sounds good?"_

 _"My lady, aren't you the best.!"_

 _"Can I study now?"_

 _"No."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Because...you are beautiful."_

 _"James did you drink firewhisky this morning? Are you drunk?"_

 _"I might be drunk 'cause my girlfriend is soo intoxicating. I don't think firewhisky can get me as high as you can."_

 _"James I get it. You want some snogging session..but stop embarrassing me."_

 _"It was a complement Lils."_

 _"You know I don't take compliments too well."_

 _"But you ARE so beautiful and smart and clever and amazing and caring. A complete package. How can you not acknowledge it?"_

 _"I don't particularly like wearing a board on my forehead that reads "smart, beautiful, caring, amazing, clever.. Any one up for complementing me?". No thank you."_

 _"You ARE beautiful amazing caring clever smart. Anyways the bell is about to ring..pack up I don't want to waste even a minute. "_

 _"Sir, yes, sir."_

And as if on cue the bell did ring. James got up almost immediately and rushed to Lily's seat. Alice looked up with a questioning glance.

"Hi Alice. Lily and I have to catch up with something. It really is important. Can't wait. So we'll be skipping lunch."

"Ohh okay."

Lily had packed up her bag and walked out of the classroom with James. As soon as they reached the third floor James took Lily's hand and almost jogged to the corridor he'd found. It was more like a dead end. And narrower than a broom cupboard. When he'd first seen it all he could think of was Lily's body all pressed up against him. He pulled her in, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her off the floor. She circled his neck with her arms and pulled herself closer to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist. He pushed her against the wall. His face was with level to her breasts. He leaned in and nuzzled them through her shirt. She moaned. Her hands were fisting his hair. She felt James undoing her shirt's buttons with his mouth. When he saw the upper hem of her bra, he groaned. It was black. He wondered if she always wore black. Impatiently he lunged his face inside her shirt without opening it completely. He kissed and sucked the breasts wherever they were uncovered. After a while or so, he put her down and pulled her towards himself by her waist. He bent down and kissed her. With his hands on either of her breasts kneading them, stroking her nipples, Lily couldn't help but just kept moaning in his mouth. With every moan James would respond way too enthusiastically pushing his tongue deep down in her throat. He groaned when Lily's waist brushed his crotch. He pulled away and lifted his hands off her breasts and cupped her face. It was usually the custom between them. When they were done with releasing their pent up passion they would just look into each other's eyes. James leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"You are so so so beautiful, Lily." He said as he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. Lily blushed, not at the complement but at the intensity his eyes had when he said this.

"Let's get back, shall we?" Lily asked trying to diffuse this topic.

"Er..Lily there's a thing I've been wanting to ask you."

"Yes James?" she asked as she was about to button up her shirt but James brushed off her hands and started buttoning her shirt, partly because he wanted to touch those wonderful mounds of flesh again and partly to avoid eye contact with her.

"Er...Lily...don't get mad okay?"

"Did you lose one of my muggle pens James?" Lily said stifling her laugh.

James thought muggle pens were really rare and expensive. When he'd lost one of her pen last week, he'd gone paranoid. He kept apologising and bought her flowers and chocolates until her room had no space to place a hairpin. She had told him that they hardly cost anything and had her mother write to him to tell him that she was speaking the truth. James had been red as a tomato and Lily had laughed and hugged him.

"Oh give it a rest girl." He said slightly annoyed but chuckled nonetheless.

She rested her arms on his shoulders.

"What is it James?"

"You won't get mad?"

"NO.!"

"It's...um .. Hogsmeade weekend tomorrow."

Lily looked up at him and raised her eyebrows as if telling him to continue.

"Ohh Lily you know what I'll ask for."

"Why don't you ask it then? And for once get a positive response."

James heart did its usual flip flop at hearing "positive response".

"Go out with me Evans?"

"Okay Potter." Lily said in the cold voice which she used to reject him.

They both chuckled.

"But we'd have to tell our friends that we are dating." Lily said.

"I have a better plan."

"Which is?"

"We can be invisible."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"I have an invisibility cloak."

"What?!"

"I have an invisibility cloak."

"I heard you the first time. How did you get it. They are really rare."

"Family heirloom." James said shrugging nonchalantly.

"Can I see it tonight?"

"No."

"Why."

"You'll see it tomorrow anyway. And also because I'll be snogging you senseless and by the time I'll be done with you, you'd want nothing else but to sleep."

And that is exactly what they did that evening until late in the night. James would _finally_ take Lily out. And Lily would finally know how would it be to go out with none other than the infamous charming James Potter.

 **A/N: Hey guys, so this is the new chapter. Sorry if I was a bit late. Anyway thank you for following or favourit'ing' the story or me. It still makes me dance like a monkey and my sister looks at me like I'm doing some stripper moves in front of my dad **rolling my eyes**.**

 **Neutrino 3000, Kelly Draco, Lara.x, THE GUEST thanks for reviewing.**

 **Kelly Draco: I'd only be too happy to oblige to your request. Yes I'll take it through their relationship in seventh year.**

 **Next update: 8th April.**

 **P.S. : Do leave a review to tell me if you like the chapter or if you have any ideas about how I should take this fic forward.**

 **As always thanks for reading guys...love ya .. byee.**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N : Okay I know that Tonks was way younger than Remus in the books but here I'm just showing her as a fifth year .. you know .. James would be going with Lily (even if on a secret date), Sirius with Hestia, Alice with Frank and Marlene with Woods (yeah I paired them up) so Remus will be pretty much left out. So in this chapter Remus will be going out with Tonks. And as for Pettigrew, I don't give crap about him .. he could as well die in a sewer drain begging for help .. I'd very much like that.. Had he not been there James and Lily would have been alive, with Harry .. but no, that bloody disloyal rat HAD to come in the scene and poop all over it.**

 **Anyway guys .. don't mind me .. I just get a bit emotional at this Pettigrew issue..**

 **Lara.x, THE GUEST, Thatsuckedroyalhippogriff, Guest(cannotstopwriting), Guest(akhirara) - thanks for the reviews guys.**

 **Lara.x.- Thanks for the suggestion.**

 **So here's the Hogsmeade chapter ...**

"Lily we all are going with our dates but we can meet up with you after a while if that's okay?" Alice asked Lily very much concerned that Lily would be left out with all her friends going with their boyfriends.

"Um .. actually James and I have to catch up with some Heads' work. So we decided we won't go."

They were in the Great Hall having breakfast.

"Yeah .. I haven't been quite able to catch up with the Heads' work, you know .. Lily has mostly taken care of it until now." James spoke up and glanced at Lily. They both were struggling hard to keep their secret intact.

"Why has Lily been doing the Heads' work?" Peter asked.

"Because that is the only domain where I could help James, he's quidditch captain plus the NEWTS and also the Heads' thing .. how do you expect someone to do all that. So I took up most of the Heads' work." Lily explained patiently to Peter and earned murmurs of agreement.

"By the way, is it true Remus that you are going out with Tonks today?" Lily asked, now genuinely concerned.

"Uh .. yeah." Remus said.

"That's great."

Remus nodded weakly. He wasn't particularly excited. Of course Tonks was pretty, intelligent, confident and a metamorphmagus too! He had spent some time with her in the library often helping her with her essays and he'd loved every minute he'd spent with her. But in the end he'd just convinced himself that he can never have a real relationship. The only thing eating him though was that if this date goes any further he'd have to tell her that he's a werewolf which he was quite sure, wouldn't draw her any closer to him at all. But he'd already agreed to go with her now. He'd have to just get through this day.

** Gryffindor Common Room**

"What do you think is up with Lily and James?" Hestia asked Alice.

"I know they have been behaving pretty weirdly. Yesterday they skipped lunch to catch up with some important work as James said it."

"I know .. I mean lunch is still fine but who skips _Hogsmeade.!_ " Sirius chimed in.

"Do you think something's going on between them?" Hestia asked.

"Can't say really 'cause James is sort of a private person. I mean he is an open book but a closed one when it comes to emotions and stuff." Sirius said although he was hundred percent sure that Lily and James have been together ever since that day when Lily had suddenly appeared happy and bright after her three full days of gloomy faces.

"Yeah .. Lily too is like that sometimes." Alice said.

"Ready?" Frank joined in as he asked.

"Yeah." Alice said.

Remus had already left with Tonks to find her friend's date.

And by 11 a.m. almost more than half the castle was empty save for the second and the first years.

**Heads' Dormitory**

Jame and Lily were ready. James was wearing a night blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and muggle jeans. Lily was wearing a white tank top with a brown jacket and jeans. And together they were lazing around on the couch with Lily lying on James so they were face to face.

"I don't want to go. Can't we just be here?" Lily said with a sigh.

"Are you kidding me? I've waited long enough for this day. I'm not cancelling it at any cost." James said as he in a sudden move, got up and hoisted Lily on his shoulders.

"James Potter! Leave me. Now." Lily shouted but couldn't control her laugh.

"Never!" James shouted, laughing too.

"Okay .. okay .. I will go with you but please put me down James .. really. I can't breathe."

And James obliged.

"How are we supposed to get out? I mean we will have to take off the invisibility cloak at the gates and I'm pretty sure there'll be students."

"Lily don't insult a marauder. We have enough secret passages to leave through."

"Secret passages? Are you for real?" Lily asked incredulously.

"Yes, my lady." James said as he out of no where pulled out a sultry soft looking cloak and draped it around his shoulders and then held his arms open for Lily. Lily looked at it hesitantly and slowly walked over to James. He immediately wrapped his arms around her and then she turned around so her back was against his front. James draped the cloak around them. Lily looked down to her feet and saw nothing but the rug beneath them. She shrieked. James laughed.

"It's not funny James. It is very, very, queer."

"You'll get used to it. Don't worry." James said as nuzzled in her hair.

"Oh stop doing that James, can we leave already?" Lily asked almost annoyed and amused at the same time.

James groaned as he pulled his face out of her hair and lifted the cloak above their heads so they were completely covered.

"Ready?" James asked.

Lily turned a bit and looked up at him and saw that he looked a wee bit nervous. She got on her toes and kissed his lips and gave him a reassuring smile. He smiled too and together they headed off to the passage that led to Honeydukes'.

**Honeydukes'**

Scarlett looked around as her date was busy buying chocolates for her. Diggory was nice. Handsome enough. But that was it. He would by her chocolates and flowers, go with her for walks but the moment she would make a move to kiss him, he would turn away saying it was too early. But today she will have what she wants. With a determined look she moved towards Amos to get him out of this shop push him in a dark alleyway and snog the daylights out of him. But as she was walking she stumbled upon something which felt as if it was a leg put deliberately in her way but she could have sworn there was nothing in the way that she could see. She fell on all her fours and before she knew the items on the stands on her right came down falling on her until one couldn't see anything but a heap of chocolates.

Lily couldn't control her laugh. She turned in James arms and wrapped her arms around his body laughing uncontrollably. James could feel her laugh, her short breaths and her fingers digging into his back to control herself. When they had entered the shop through the passage Lily scowled at seeing Scarlett. Before James could even think, Lily had stuck out her leg to make Scarlett stumble and just by pure luck the stand on Scarlett's right emptied its content on her. But what Lily didn't notice as she had turned around in to face James, was that a certain pair of grey eyes which were standing behind the right stand had winked at James. The eyes James knew belonged to one Sirius Orion Black. Sirius had then held his hand up in which he held the marauders' map. James smiled at his friend and shook his head at himself. _What was he thinking hiding something like this from his brother? Of course Pads knew all along that he and Lily were together. He had always had the map and he'd have seen them together in those dark corners and broom cupboards known for only one thing. Although since the map was limited to Hogwarts and the terminal ends of its secret passages Sirius wouldn't know where Lily and I will be in Hogsmeade._

He made a note to himself to tell Lily about this. When he looked down at Lily, he saw she had considerably calmed down.

"Shall we proceed? Or do you want to continue with this?" James asked.

"No let's go." Lily said, the remnants of her laughter still evident in her voice. Together they went out and Lily noticed James nicking some candies. She gasped and he offered her one. She hesitated but couldn't resist the candy. James raised his eyebrows.

"Next time Lily, you will steal for yourself." James said mockingly.

"Wow. And here I thought you brought me on a date."

Just then someone rushed past them almost knocking them over. Lily feared the cloak would come off but James had it in place. _It must be quite a habit for him to be under this cloak and not let it slip off._ She thought. And then James nodded to Lily to walk toward the Three Broomsticks. And they started off. All through the way people were pushing them from all the direction almost knocking them over. At first James thought this was going horrible for his first date with Lily. But then Lily stepped on someone's toes accidently. And the guy kept glancing around for the source of the weight that stepped over him but just couldn't find it. Lily started off with a silent laughter. When James asked her if they should continue she simply nodded while trying to contain her laughter. And then all through the way she kept stepping on people's toes or nudging them or poking them. James was worried that she might be doing this because she is bored. He was about to panic when the guy , she had earlier stepped on accidently, came in front of them again. This time she poked him in the back.

"Oh FOR MERLIN'S BRIGHT FUCKING BEARD WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.!" the guy shouted now really frustrated. He started waving his arms around wildly to catch whoever kept stepping on him. Jame and Lily made a quick escape, dodging him and sprinting off. When they came by a fairly less crowded area, Lily turned and wrapped her arms around James neck.

"I love this James!" She said, half squeaking, half whispering.

And James felt free of all doubts he had felt by now.

"Where do we go now?"

"You like spying?"

"Umm..like intruding people's privacy?"

"No not people .. I mean people to me means anyone but a Slytherin." James said winking and then nodded in the general direction of Mulciber. He was standing in a corner smoking. James and Lily went up to him and stood in front of him at a little distance. They both knew that he was a guy who can easily be scared if he didn't have his gang around. This was a perfect opportunity. James and Lily bent down and picked up some stones. James was first. He flint the stone at Mulciber hitting his lower jaw.

Mulciber dropped his cigarette and looked around. When he saw no one he stroked his jaw thoughtfully. This time it was Lily who threw the stone which hit Mulciber right in the eye. Now Mulciber was pretty sure that someone was indeed throwing stones at him. He kept rubbing his eyes where the stone had hit him all the while sweating quite profusely out of fear. He looked around with scared eyes. When again he saw no one he sort of tried to relax but fear was evident in his body. He brought his hands to his face to wipe off his sweat and at that same time James threw another stone at at him hitting the back of Mulciber's hand. Mulciber glanced around wildly. At the same time a heavily built man came up in front of James and Lily. Mulciber's eyes landed on him. By this time he knew that the stones were coming from that direction where the man was standing.

"So it's you?" Mulciber shouted.

The man looked around lazily trying to make sure it him that the other guy was referring to.

"Don't act innocent you asshole."

"Mind your tongue lad." The man said, clearly annoyed at Mulicuber's choice of words.

Mulciber started walking towards the man with his wand in his hands he came up straight to the man and put the wand under his chin.

"I will curse you until you beg for death." Mulciber said in a voice that he thought was threatening but it only sounded like a rat's sqeak.

"Oh yeah?" The man said smirking. Then with both if his hands he grabbed Mulciber by his ears and hoisted him up. Mulciber screamed in pain. The man threw him down, and reached for Mulciber's wand and broke it into two pieces. He shoved the wand into the pocket of of Mulciber's jeans picked the boy up again and threw him some yards away where he landed in a bush. The man then walked away as calm as he could be.

"That was .." James couldn't think of saying anything. He enjoyed it. But he knew how Lily felt about such things.

"Oh.. James one time when you can actually say the right thing you decide to just shut up. It was amazing." Lily said squealing with excitement.

"Huh really? I think I'm a bad influence." James said as he walked them to the main Hogsmeade village.

Lily rolled her eyes, "You have to give _yourself_ the credit, don't you?"

"Oh Evans admit it. Had it not been me you would never have thought of pranks as fun."

"You remember the time when Filch was getting on every one's nerves back in fifth year?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And someone burst a dust bomb in his office."

"Yeah I remember it clearly. It took him weeks to clear off that dusk. And Sirius and I got detention for it. We were a bit happy to get the credit for something as awesome as that. We did try to find that dust bomb in the Zonko's but he said there was no such thing."

"It's a muggle thing you know, you wont find it here."

"Ohh .. Wait .. but how do you know? I mean sure you are a muggle born but I would never expect you to keep tracks of such things."

"That's because it was I who did it."

James stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her.

"It .. w-was .. you ?" he stuttered.

"Yeah," Lily said quite calmly, "didn't see that coming huh?"

"Er .. no ..no." James said, "wow."

"Are we going to stand out here forever?"

"Er.. No .. let's go to The Three Broomsticks. Sirius is going to go wild when I tell him this." James aid thoughtfully.

"Yeah .. wait .. how are we supposed to be there with this cloak thing?"

"Really Lily? You thought that I, finally earning a date with you, would deprive you of butterbeer?" Jame said as they reached the bar and entered when a couple opened the door. They made their way upstairs. Lily had never been there. She though it wasn't allowed. And then out of no where Madam Rosmerta arrived.

"Stay in here." James said to Lily as he got out of the invisibility cloak.

"Hey Rosmerta." James greeted her.

"Hi James. I set up your reservation. It must be quite a special date, you've never taken anyone here. Where's your date?" She asked, but it was too inquisitive for James liking. Instead of answering he just asked where the room was. He opened the door to the room and pretended to look into it while standing outside the room, letting Lily go in there. When he felt the rush of his cloak against his hands he closed the door, still outside.

"I don't want _any_ disturbance. Any at all, unless it's death eaters or fire. No I don't want any more beer or food or anything. If I would want it I'd ring for it."

"Sure whatever." Rosemerta said a little put off.

"Thanks." James said with a charming smile and entered the room and locked it. He just didn't trust that woman.

"Wow .. James .. this is just .. wow." Lily said as she took off the cloak.

James heart swelled as he saw Lily looking at him with a smile that he could tell was pretty involuntary. She really couldn't stop smiling. She walked over to him wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her off the floor and sat them on a plush chair in which they sunk as they sat, with Lily straddling his lap. Lily kissed James more than just passionately. She dove her tongue into James mouth devouring every part of it. She ran a finger along the outline of his ear down to his jaw as he stroked her thighs through her jeans. He groaned and pulled out of their kiss.

"Next time wear a skirt?" He said.

"In winters?" Lily asked amused. James gave her fishy look and brought her face back to his mouth to continue their snogging.

They spent quite some time in their passionate embrace before they were exhausted out of their minds. Lily got up to sit in her chair but James grabbed her and made her sit in his lap across his thighs. She rested her head on his chest.

"I really am enjoying this day James. I wonder why I kept saying no to you. I should have asked other girls whom you took on dates." Lily said jokingly.

"You are the only girl who knows about this cloak, I never showed it to them or never would have I. Only Sirius, Remus and Peter know. I always dated other girls to try and fill up for you Lily. I never had feelings for any of them. They all wanted serious relationship. And for me that only meant you." James said and there was silence until James broke it, "Please don't leave me Lily." He wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him.

"I won't James. Never." Lily said, pretty much overcome by this little revelation, placing her hands on his arms. They then sipped their butterbeers in silence.

**Downstairs**

Sirius, Hestia, Remus and Tonks met up in the Three Broomsticks. Sirius had gone to get the drinks from the bar when Rosmerta showed up.

"Your friend has brought a special date today." She said.

"Really? Who?" Sirius said, fully aware that Rosmerta wanted to know this girl for whom he'd reserved the room upstairs. James had always planned on taking Lily there on their first date. But he wasn't about to tell this woman. James and Sirius had never liked her except when she would break the line to serve the pair of them first.

"I was thinking you could tell me that." Rosmerta said.

"Didn't James tell you?"

"Ohh.. you know how he's like .. do you know her name?"

"Did you see her?"

"Yes yes I did."

"So how does she look like?" Sirius asked fully aware that she did not see Lily. James would never let her see Lily if Lily didn't want it.

"Oh.. She was beautiful." Rosmerta started but couldn't say anything further as she didn't see James' date.

"We both know Rose that James, if he wants to keep something secret always manages to do so. And the only reason you want to know who his date is, is because it isn't you. I will never tell you who it is but I sure can tell you that it will, from this day on, always be her. He won't be bringing any new dates from now on. Just her."

Sirius grabbed the butterbeers and left a shell shocked Rosmerta on the bar. Rosmerta determined to find who this secret date was went upstairs immediately, found the door slightly ajar. When she peeked in there was no one. Some money was kept on the table.

James and Lily left soon after this little encounter of Sirius and Rosmerta and James just happened to see Rosmerta heading upstairs. _I knew I couldn't trust her._ James thought.

Then James took Lily to Tomes and Scrolls which he knew was Lily's favourite place in Hogsmeade. _Such a bookworm._ James thought affectionately. There was hardly any student here James again got out of the cloak and headed to the shop owner. The owner handed James a big package. James thanked him and left with Lily.

"Here I bought this for you." James said handing her the package.

"Let's go to the Shrieking Shack, you can open it then." James said.

When they reached the Shrieking Shack, Lily opened the package. She had been looking for these books every where. She wanted them but she couldn't take them. It was too much.

"James thank you so much, but I can't take them."

"Why, you don't like them? I thought you wanted them and I'm pretty sure I got the same books you have been searching for wildly since last year."

"I love them James. They are lovely. I've always wanted them. But it's just I can't accept them. It's too much James. You spend too much on me."

"I want to."

"And I don't. I don't want you to keep spending your money on me. It doesn't make me feel good." Lily said. James looked pretty put off by this statement.

"James .. Really I love them.. okay I'll take them. But then promise me you wont give me any birthday gift."

"What.. no .. Lily .." But Lily gave him a stern look, "okay maybe.. but I will gift you something less grand." James said. And Lily knew he wasn't to be questioned.

"So this is where you guys come for the new moon?" Lily asked casually.

James seemed paralysed at this.

"What d-do you mean?"

"You, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. You guys come here for Remus' transformation?"

"Lily .. I ..uh .."

"It's okay James .. I know.. About Remus and you three .. And about the whole illegal business."

"I need you to say it Lily."

"You are a stag, Sirius a dog and Peter a rat."

"Lily, how did you ever found out?"

"I knew about Remus ever since our third year, but back in fifth year when I became a prefect Remus wouldn't come for patrols around new moon. And I never questioned him. Then one day when I was returning from patrols, you three were huddled together with some sort of parchment in Sirius' hands. I heard you guys saying Remus' name and something about Whoomping Willow. Sirius then stuffed that parchment in his pocket and you guys went out. I followed you. You didn't have your invisibility cloak that day I guess. And then in the grounds I saw Peter turn into a rat and running towards the Whoomping Willow. It stood still and then when you were almost to the entrance I saw you turn into a stag and Sirius in a dog. I heard Remus' howl .. I mean the werewolf's howl so I went back to the castle." Lily finished.

"You never told anyone?"

"No James I would never do that. I sure was baffled at first but that'll make Remus' secret public."

"Do any of the girls know?"

"No James."

"Huh .. okay .."

"It's pretty cool you know. Not the animagus thing but it being illegal."

"You are full of surprises today."

"So .. should we go back? To the castle.?"

"What? Not now.."

"why?"

James looked at his watch and then looked up at the sky. It was dark now. And after a few seconds, some fireworks exploded in the sky. And after that some more and they kept exploding until one could only see colours in the night sky and tears on Lily's face and in her eyes. James hugged her and they sat like that for what felt like eternity.

When they finally went back to the castle they didn't say anything except Lily telling him that it was the best day ever. They slept on the couch again their legs in a tangled mess with their hair and arms every where.

 **A/N : Thanks for reading guys.. Love ya..**

 **Next update: 11th.**

 **So did you like the chapter? Do tell me.**


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

 **A/N: Hey guys the new chapter..**

 **Tauros1234, Lara.x, akhirara..thank you for the reviews guys.**

 **Tauros1234- Soryy no quidditch in this chapter. I thought it better to have the friends do some talking about their lives to each other. Next chapter- it's war Gryffindor v. Slytherin.**

 **** I'm so sorry guys. I thought I had submitted the chapter but actually I had submitted it in the Doc Manager folder and not posted it. When I received a PM from Tauros1234, I realised it. I'm so sorry guys you had to wait. Anyway enjoy the chapter****

"Er..Lils?" said James.

He had woken up in a tangle of legs and arms with Lily's hair everywhere. He didn't wake her up immediately. She looked lovely while she slept. She would crinkle her nose occasionally or scratch just under her chin, the corner of her lips turned down. But James started feeling a bit uncomfortable, squeezed in a little couch. He was tall and had his head was almost dangling off the armrest.

"Mm.." Lily replied in her deep slumber.

"Wake up?"

"Mmm.."

James chuckled.

"Come on Lily, get up or Slytherin would win the match tomorrow."

Lily jumped up, and sat on James straddling his waist.

"Whazhiyoujussay?" Lily managed to speak rubbing her eyes.

"I'm not a cryptograph, sorry Lils."

"I said .. What did you just say..about Slytherin winning the match."

"I have to go for the practice. Remember the quidditch game got a bit delayed because of the bludger which the Hufflepuff captain lost? Madam Hooch found it a week back and had scheduled the match for tomorrow."

"Ohh..you should go." Lily said thoughtfully.

"Yes Lily I should."

"Mmhmm." Lily said nodding.

"You are still sitting on me, Lils."

Lily blushed a little and was about to get up when James suddenly sat up and pushed back Lily, so James was on top.

"What are you doing?" Lily said laughing.

"Nothing, just some morning work out." James said as he planted soft kisses on her forehead, nose, neck until he finally kissed her lips and let his tongue deep in her mouth. They pulled apart after some time.

"Good morning." Lily said, now fully awake.

James chuckled and then kissed her forehead and went for a shower. When he got out, he found Lily still in the couch trying to stay up.

"You should go to your room if you want to sleep. I'll make some excuse to your friends." He said.

James then remembered that he had to tell Lily that Sirius knew about them, but since she seemed too sleepy he decided to tell her later.

"Lily? I have to tell you something later, okay? Do remind me."

"Okay." Lily said as she headed off to her room and James to the the breakfast table.

"Where's Lily?" Alice asked as soon as she spotted James.

"She said she wasn't feeling quite alright, and that she needed to sleep a bit." James replied. _It was only the truth._

"Lot of work yesterday?"

James turned to his left to see Sirius smirking at him.

"Mate, you wouldn't believe. Being a Head Boy is not what I thought it would be." James said winking at Sirius.

"Where's Remus?" James asked as he seated himself beside Sirius.

"It's new moon the day after tomorrow." Sirius whispered.

"Shit man, I completely did it go with him yesterday? With Tonks?"

"He really does like her you know. More than he would admit, 'cause he knows we'll push him into a relationship with her and you know how he feels about being with a girl. But he really likes Tonks. He actually _laughs_ .. I mean with us he does laugh, but I've never seen him laughing with people other than us." Sirius said.

"Yeah..yeah..what about Tonks? Is she nice?.. I mean you met her right? With Remus in the Three Broomsticks? How is she like, around him?"

"She is cool, really really cool. I mean she cracks funny jokes. The ones which you can actually laugh at not the bitchy ones girls keep in their dumb heads. And she I guess likes Remus too. You know she'd be quite attentive around him. Looks out for him if he feels too uncomfortable with some topic going on around, stuff like that..". Sirius finished.

"Do you.. Do you think Moony's .. condition would drive her away from him? By the sound of it, they do like each other but what if she gets .. you know.. when she finds out about Remus?"

"There it is. The whole problem. She came earlier, to meet Remus in the common room but then she saw his condition and asked if he had been to the hospital wing..she cares..and does like him..it's on Moony for now if he wants to continue it..and then I guess it will be on Tonks when he tells her about himself." Sirius said.

James nodded. To everyone who couldn't listen to them they both looked as if they were discussing the potential solutions to bring down Voldemort. Remus was a very sensitive issue for them. Their motherly and fatherly instincts would stand in attention when it came to Remus. They wanted him to be as happy as he can be.

"So you and Lily huh?" Sirius asked looking down onto his plate with that smirk.

"Yeah.."

"Who knew!"

"I since first year!" James said bringing down his fist on the table in a grand annoyed gesture.

"Okay..yeah..you knew." Sirius said with his hands raised up in a defeated manner.

"And .. uhh .. I must to tell you Pads.. Lily knows about us."

"What exactly?"

"About Remus and us too." James said indicating him and Sirius.

"How?!"

James recounted every part if Lily's story that she told him yesterday.

"She has known it all along?" Sirius said in complete awe, "and she never told this to anyone?"

"Nope.", replied James, quietly.

"Whoa. Who knew Ms. Abide-the-Rules would cover up for the marauders eh?" Sirius said, "maybe even she knew she'd fall for you, so she decided not to let the secret out. After all who would spend their lives with their significant other in Azkaban!" James and Sirius chuckled.

"I have quidditch practice..what are you going to do?" James asked Sirius.

"Have detentions' scheduled for today..first with McGonagall and then Slughorn." Sirius said as they started leaving the Great Hall.

"Want to go check on Remus first?" James asked Sirius.

"Yeah..okay.." Sirius said.

**Hospital Wing**

When James and Sirius had entered the hospital wing, they had found Remus sleeping. When they were about to leave Remus woke up and asked them to stay. After a lot of catching- up between the friends James asked Remus about Tonks.

"She is nice, funny..but you know I cant take it any further than this." Remus said looking away from his friends, "I don't know how would she react to my..condition."

"Not everyone reacts the same way on finding out about you Remus." James said quietly.

"You guys are my best mates. Of course you didn't react like normal people who don't know me."

"It's not just us I'm talking about." James said glancing nervously to Sirius.

Remus quirked an eyebrow.

"Lily has known since third year." James said.

"Lily?!" Remus said wide eyed.

"Yes and she knows about Peter, Sirius and me." James said.

"How?"

James explained this to him.

"She doesn't hate me?"

"No."

"She didn't tell anyone?"

"No."

"But then again James, Lily has known me, and has been my good friend so i guess that I why she didn't tell anyone or didn't hate me. Tonks is a different case. She came here to meet me. I don't know who told her I was here. This is getting out of hands mates. If she thinks that I'm serious about us, the truth only ruin whatever we have."

"Remus give it a try mate. She really does like you." Sirius said, and suddenly he looked old with his serious expression.

"What did you tell her about you being in hospital wing?" James asked.

"That I got sick. She just nodded."

"Remus, I have to tell you another thing." James said. He wanted Remus to know too if Sirius knew about him and Lily or it would make him feel left out.

"Lily and I are together." James said.

Remus laughed out loud at this.

"And you think I don't know?"

"What! Pads did you tell him?"

"No mate, I swear."

"James everyone can figure it out for themselves."

"Does the entire school know?"

"I don't know about that, but we're your mates. How do you possibly think of hiding something like that from us?" Remus said shaking his head a bit.

"Yeah..I'm sorry..it's just that Lily and I didn't just want to disclose it all of a sudden."

"is alright mate." Remus said.

"Yeah..we really should get back though." Sirius said, "my detention's in 10 minutes."

"Yeah..yeah..okay."

**Heads' Dormitory**

"Hey Lils."

James got back from his quidditch practice, drenched in sweat and rain. He found Lily sitting on her desk, doing her homework.

"Hi. How was practice?" Lily asked smiling. Seeing James all sweaty and flushed made her heart do all sorts of martial arts.

"The teams good. In form. But well, we'll see tomorrow."

Lily nodded.

"What did you have to tell me James?"

"Hmm?.. Oh..that..er..Lily Sirius had known about us for a long time."

"What?!"

"Yeah..you see..we had once made a map..we call it the Marauders' Map. It shows everyplace in the castle, even the secret passages, everyone wherever they are. It shows everything. So Sirius had spied on us, you know the broom cupboards or the corridors."

"Can I see that map?" Lily asked, curiosity brimming her lovely eyes. James smiled. This was his Lily, who didn't care if her secret was out, but was more interested whether she'll get to see the map.

"Yes of course Lily..you can finally see that I'm not a dumb head."

"Ohh..I'm so sure a large part of the map was only Remus' efforts."

James became shifty at the topic of Remus.

"And um..about Remus..he knows too."

"James, even I was thinking that it's time we told our friends. We shouldn't leave them out, you know."

"Yeah..yeah..so are you going to tell the girls?"

"Maybe tomorrow, during the match."

"So it means I can snog you?"

"Go take a bath Potter, only then will you touch me."

"Ohh..admit it Evans, James Potter all sweaty and flushed, did set your nerves tingling." James said, his arrogant smirk on his face. Lily just flushed red with this remark and James picked her up from her chair, tossed her on the couch and pinned her down with his body.

"That's gross James."

James just kissed her for what felt like hours. Her lips were swollen, her skirt hardly hiding her modesty, her bra damp, and James' face buried in her neck, with his hands kneading her breasts. Lily's hands were in his hair, pulling and tugging them. At last when they were in desperate need of air, they pulled apart. They then decided to skip dinner and headed to kitchens, where they stayed until the it was time for patrols. When they got back to their dorm, James still wanted a round two of their 'couch adventures' but Lily insisted him to go and sleep. It was a big match after all.

"But I want to be with you right now so much."

"Win me a game Potter, we'll see about this tomorrow then." Lily winked as she walked away. James head was spinning with possibilities. _Damn. How was he supposed to concentrate on the match now!._

 **A/N: Hey guys the new chapter..hope you like it. Do tell me.**

 **Next update: 15th**

 **Thanks for reading...as always love ya bye...**


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

 **A/N: I. Am. So. Awfully. Sorry. So so so sorryy guys. I have never been this late in updating. I know. But right now I wont make you wait to read the chapter. I'll tell you why I haven't been updating later.**

"Zabini now has the quaffle with Potter tailing him." Melanie announced in a small voice as the Slytherin stand became deafening. Gryffindor was leading 60-50 and now the quaffle was with the Slytherin captain Zabini. There was still no sign of the snitch and both the seekers were hovering over the stands looking down at the game. As James sped past Lavern, the Slytherin chaser he heard a collective gasp coming from the Gryffindor stand, and moments later the bludger hit his right arm. For a moment he almost fell off his broom but soon regained his balance just in time to see his keeper, Marlene, save a goal coming from Zabini. He nodded at her. She passed the quaffle to Jess who sped towards the Gryffindor goal post.

"Jessica now has the quaffle and she passes it to Potter to Robins. Robins is headed towards the goal post and HE SCORES. IT'S GRYFFINDOR 70-50"

The Gryffindor stands roared up with cheers. Lily was practically ready to jump off the stands. She had been wanting to tell Alice about James but Lily couldn't keep her eyes off the games and also because Alice was constantly speaking about Frank. Frank was even higher up in the stands with Peter. Sirius was in the hospital wing with Remus.

"..Lily, are you listening to me?" Alice asked.

Lily hasn't been listening to her. She thought that this is the only time probably when Alice had her mouth shut and decided to tell her straight away.

"James and I are dating." Lily said as fast as she could.

"Wait..wh-what?"

"James and I..are .. dating." Lily said patiently.

"Ohh that..yeah..I know." Alice said not in a least bit surprised.

"What?!"

"Yeah..I mean come on..you think you can sneak off in between the classes, or skip lunch, or not show up in the library when you promised me to..do you really think I cant tell?" Alice finished with a smirk.

By now Lily was red in the face. Gryffindor was still leading by 100-70 and James allowed himself to look in the stands and in less than a second he spotted the bright shade of Lily's hair and saw her talking to Alice and suddenly Alice seemed to have shrieked and hugged Lily. _Guess she told her._ James thought.

"Hell Alice you are my best friend. The least you could do is act all surprised, hug me and congrats me instead of making me feel like a kid caught stealing cookies." Lily said pouting and was scared out of her senses when Alice suddenly shrieked and jumped and hugged her so tight that Lily was sure she had broken her cervical bones.

"I'm so happy for you Lily!" Alice said in her all too familiar girly shriek.

"Er...thanks Alice .. please I can't breathe .. lemme go."

"Oh stop it. You're such a drama queen." Alice said.

Lily turned her attention back to the game and saw James looking at her. She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. James winked at her and sped off. The entire stand turned towards the general direction of Lily but she kept her eyes fixed on the pitch.

Gryffindor scored five more goals and Slytherin was still stuck at 70. There was still no sign of the snitch. So the score was Gryffindor 150-70. The match went on for what felt like forever. After 30 more minutes Slytherin managed to score one goal and the score was still in the favour of Gryffindor by 220-80, when suddenly the Slytherin seeker sped off towards the Ravenclaw stand and the Gryffindor seeker followed suit. Hardly an inch apart the Slytherin seeker almost had his fingers touching the snitch when Jordan appeared beside him and they both raced each other. Up in the game James kept up his efforts to score more. He knew that if he was able to score twice or thrice more Gryffindor would still win even if Slytherin catches the snitch. He managed to score two more goals with score going as Gryffindor 240-80. He knew this would be enough but then in a spur of moment Zabini had the quaffle, made his way to the Slytherin goal post and scored. _This would tie the score._ He looked down the seekers were still racing to get the snitch. As he looked up he saw Marlene passing him the quaffle which he passed to Jessica and she managed to dodge the Slytherin keeper and scored. There was a huge commotion in the Slytherin stands as the Slytherin keeper had caught the snitch and the Gryffindor's was lying on the ground.

"Gryffindor had won the match by 250-240." Melanie said and this shut up the Slytherins.

As the Gryffindor team approached their seeker lying on the ground face first, Jordon turned around held up his hand. He showed the golden snitch to the coach and the new coach, Madam Hooch pointed her wand at her neck and said, " The Gryffindor seeker had caught the snitch and hence the score is-" She was cut off by the huge collective sound from the Gryffindor stands.

" 400-80!" Everyone on the stands shouted out the score together. McGonagall was going paranoid in the teachers stands and Slughorn was nodding politely at her.

From the crowd forming around the team James saw a flash of red and was surrounded by it in the next moment as Lily wrapped her arms around his neck. When she pulled back they kissed each other on the lips making the crowd going frozen on the spot. No one spoke for quite some time while James and Lily kissed but when the crowd realised that it was actually happening and Lily wasn't going to slap or insult Potter, the celebrations of the win soon turned into wolf whistles and cat calls. When Lily realised that she had been kissing James in public she broke the kiss and buried her face in James' sweat drenched neck. James realising this, lifted her off the ground settled them on his broomstick and flew off towards the castle. When they got to their dormitory they couldn't keep their hands off each other. James took her into his room.

 _(And there were a lot of noises coming from the room.)_

 _**_ James' room**

Lily woke up and felt James' arms around her waist. She smiled. She looked around and didn't recognise her surroundings. She blinked more and then certain memories seemed to come flooding back to her.

 _I had sex with James!_

All of a sudden she became _very_ aware of her naked body pressed to that of James. Their legs were in a tangled mess. They were spooning and Lily was grateful for it 'cause James couldn't see her face.

She looked around and saw that it has been 5 hours since the match and James was still sleeping quite heavily. Lily tried to free himself from his hold but to no avail. He had a very strong grip even in his sleep. She gave in and decided to sleep some more. She turned his arms and nuzzled in his chest and soon drifted off to sleep.

 **A/N: I know this chapter is too short. And I guess this will be the second last chapter. I will post the last chapter in a week. But still do tell me if you liked the chapter or not.**

 **Tauros1234, Lara.x, Niamh x, awesomegamer20 - thanks for the reviews guys.**

 **And now to the reason why i haven't been updating. I found this amazing fic which you HAVE TO READ! NO EXCUSES.**

 **The name is Because We Are Made of Dreams by padfootagain.**

 **Go search it and read it. It is downright amazing!**

 **And as always guys..thanx for reading..love ya always..xx..**


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

 **A/N: I know it's been over a month now .. but I had exams and other stuff going on .. anyway let's get to the story yeah?**

"This is the last time I'm telling you James! Get your wand off the floor! How difficult is it for you to understand that Harry tends to play with objects lying around within his reach? And your wand is very much one of them! You leave it on the floor once again and I'll break it into two pieces!" Lily yelled at James from the kitchen while James was searching for some papers and he rushed to Harry to get back his wand from his son.

As James was struggling to release the death grip Harry had on his wand, he couldn't help but notice the stubborn look he had on his face just like Lily, especially the eyes which were narrowed to slits right now, and his lips were pursed into a thin line but it made him look more chubby and cute and very very childlike. James imagined Lily doing that and burst out laughing because Lily really does that when James and Lily are engaged in a tug of war. When Lily heard James laughing she came out of the kitchen to find her husband and son on the floor and former laughing like a mad man while Harry was happy to have retrieved the wand from James. Lily came to them and picked up Harry's toy broomstick and traded it for James wand. All this while James was still recovering from the fit of laughter he had gone into. She smacked James' head upside.

"Ow! What's that for?" James asked rubbing the back of his head.

"For leaving the wand on the floor and not even trying to get it back from Harry and on the top of that YOU ARE LAUGHING!"

"Hey, I'm sorry," James said still chuckling bit, "but you it's just he has your eyes and, and he too narrowed it to slits just like you used to do back when you would get a hint that I was planning a prank and I can't help it." James looked at her with the most innocent face he could muster and when he saw Lily's lips twitching, he grabbed her by her waist and pulled her to him.

"What do you want?" Lily said, whining.

"You know it's time to put Harry to bed." James whispered to her.

"I'm gonna read to him today, and you better clean up the mess that you, Sirius and Harry made today in our bedroom." Lily said.

"Ah..clean the bedroom?" James said quirking one eyebrow.

"Do it before I come back or I'll sleep in Harry's bedroom today."

"On it." James said as he jumped up in an instant, while Lily controlled her urge to laugh.

James started cleaning up the room but really he was just taking all the stuff and shoving it up in the spare cupboard because his wand was still with Lily. _It's like being in a detention_. He thought miserably. At this rate the cupboard was overflowing with all the toys and when he finally managed to close the cupboard he realised that there were three more toys left.

"Oh fuck." James groaned and decided to keep it in Lily's cupboard. He opened it and found everything neatly placed and in order. He smiled at this. Lily was probably the only organised person he had ever met. Even his mum wasn't this organised. When he was done with cleaning he decided to go up to Harry's bedroom.

When he got there he found Lily reading Harry' s favourite bedtime story. James standing in the doorway smiled at the two of them. Lily hadn't even noticed that he was there and Harry seemed to be too busy playing with Lily's hair. In fact Harry didn't give a crap about the story. He'd soon found out that Harry just pretended this story to be his favourite because Harry realised that it was Lily's favourite story too and she would never mind Harry playing with her hair while she read him this story. Any other time she would never let Harry touch her hair except when she read this story to him. Damn my son is smart. James thought proudly. Harry has loved his mother's hair since the first moment he'd opened his eyes. Only he didn't know a gentle way to show his affection. He was so fascinated by it that he would just grab a fistful of Lily's hair and try to get it off her head and all to himself.

 _"Sorry Lily, he gets that from me I guess." James had said to Lily in the hospital after Harry's first attack at Lily's hair while she sat there rubbing her head._

James entered the room and somehow squeezed himself in Harry's bed, so Harry sat in between the two of them. At first he squirmed but went back to playing with Lily's hair. Lily looked up at James and James took the opportunity to say, " The bedroom's ready you know.".

Lily amused, shook her head at him and went back to reading the story indicating to James that she had to finish the story first. Lily tried to hide her face behind the book but it was too late as James has already seen the blush creeping up her neck to her cheek. James instantly remembered the time when they had first made love to each other. Lily didn't look at him directly for three days. That was until they got involved in a food fight in the kitchens where James teased Lily about her being so shy and not making eye contact and then they got into a staring contest and without any doubt Lily lost when she saw James hazel eyes penetrating into her very soul.

And then James remembered another memory when James had told Sirius about Lily's prank that she pulled off in their fifth year by bombing Filch's office with a dust bomb. Sirius had looked as if he was paralysed and then sent into hysteria. He couldn't believe it and the next morning slipped some veritaserum in Lily's pumpkin juice. And then asked her. When her answer came in affirmative Sirius lost whatever sanity was left in him and climbed the Gryffindor table and shouted, "I'm the heir of Salazar Slytherin.", earning a lot of scowls and stunned faces from the Slytherin table.

"Poor folks! Can't even take a joke." He muttered. "So much to learn!" He shouted after seeing a bunch of stunned and scowling Slytherin faces.

Then there was that time when James had been called for his counselling by McGonagall and had eavesdropped on the conversation she was having with Dumbledore. Had he not listened carefully he'd have thought that they were discussing something related to this Voldemort bloke or something of very grave nature. But that was until he heard his own name. Then he listened carefully and found out that they were arguing over some bet. And it dawned on him then that McGonagall and Dumbledore had a bet going on whether James and Lily were going out or not. And the argument specifically was about whether it was official or not. James, with a lot of courage, walked into the office and and told the professors that it was indeed official and hardly kept himself from falling from disbelief when he saw McGonagall turning a bright shade of red almost looking like a tomato at the prospect of being caught wagering about her students' love interests. Dumbledore had merely chuckled and said that she could collect the amount from his office, which did not help with the colour of her cheeks. When he had told this to Lily she simply didn't believe him and went back to doing her homework. And till date she doesn't believe it however the Marauders .. well they were just Marauders and took no time in discussing about how long had McGonagall been betting on it and the fact that none of them were smart enough to wager about this as they knew it was going to happen sooner or later.

And then James remembered the day when Lily had invited him over to her parent's house over dinner as her boyfriend. He had been so nervous that he thought he might throw up any time. Lily had just told her parents that James would be coming and didn't tell them that he was her boyfriend until he reached her house.

 _Lily's mother shrieked, "I knew it! I've known since her second year." Everyone gaped at her._

 _"Mum? Are you okay? I used to hate James until our sixth year." Lily said, shocked at the statement her mother made._

 _"Oh shush it. Even by the standards of hating someone you wouldn't shut up about him. We have spent all your summer holidays listening to how irritating Potter was. Everytime you'd open your mouth there was just one word. Potter. We didn't even know who your friends were until the third year when you invited them for a night's stay. The only thing we knew was Hogwarts, Gryffindor, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and well Potter."_

 _Lily had been sitting stunned at her seat trying to process all this information while James did everything in his power to stop himself from smirking at her_.

After this particular incident he had teased her endlessly. Even now when Lily would exclaim her frustration on marrying him he would never miss the chance to say, "Oh come on admit it Evans you had loved me since our first year." And she would, very reluctantly, smile at him.

Another thing that didn't get old between them was Lily's maiden name. Much as it gave them goosebumps at hearing Lily being referred to as Mrs. Potter or Lily Potter, he still used to refer to her as Evans when they would talk about Hogwarts and Mrs. Potter whenever she would threaten to leave him in between an argument. But he was James Potter and the Potter charm was hard to die and eventually they would end up in the bath or in between the sheets.

Then James remembered the time in his seventh year when he had gone frantic about proposing to Lily and preparing everything. He dragged Sirius to buy the ring he wanted to give Lily as Sirius belonged to the pedantic family of Purebloods and would know everything about rings. Sirius had spent a good deal of time (nearly six hours) in helping James select the ring, occasionally remarking, "Mate do you want her to say yes or not?" or "Seriously Prongs forget about marrying her she would never say yes to that ring." James had been paranoid about proposing to her after they graduated of course. He had bought her a dress, and had decided the date when he would invite her to dinner and the date of the dinner and had already started writing the speech and memorising it instead of studying for NEWTs. Remus was the one that had helped him write the speech. And Peter helped him by pretending to be Lily while James recited his speech to him. Needless to say that Peter was the one who got the most boring he had ruined every preparation when one day Lily and James, after their patrols, had gone up to the Astronomy Tower and were sitting in silence.

 _James looked over to Lily and felt his heart speeding at such an incredibly fast rate that he almost blacked out and couldn't hear anything except his heart thumping. She had her eyes closed and had her face turned up to the sky, her faced illuminated by the moonlight. He could have sworn she had never looked more beautiful. She looked so pure, and so real. Her hair delicately lying on her shoulders, her long eyelashes, her lips bright and red and swollen which James knew was from their adventurous visit in James' room earlier."Marry me Lily."_

 _The moment these words left James' mouth he mentally slapped himself for being so stupid. He hadn't revised his speech nor did he have the ring. Way to go, he thought, now she'll never say yes, what the hell was I thinking. He just hoped that he hadn't scared her away. Well I could always make her come around can't I? He thought to himself. But then again he really, really feared rejection from her. After all this wouldn't be the first time that she would reject him. She'd spent nearly half her school life doing that and wouldn't hesitate doing it again._

 _What if she doesn't even feel the way I do? He thought miserably. Merlin knew she had never even said that she loved him. What the hell was I thinking! She doesn't even love me._

 _James had started panicking but then he heard a small 'yes'. He looked around for the source of noise and found Lily looking at him smiling at him."Lily did you say something?"_

 _"Yes James. I said yes I'll marry you."_

 _"You will?"_

 _"You do know that I love you right?" Lily said._

 _James thought that he'd faint right at the spot. First he asks her to marry him out of the blue then she says yes and then she tells him that she loves him._

 _"I guess I had a fair idea." James said smugly._

 _"Really? The look on your face said quite the contrary." Lily chuckled at him._

 _"Shut up." James said smiling._

 _They both sat in silence contemplating their thoughts. They had just committed their entire lives to each other. James was ecstatic beyond all possibilities but he still wondered that after all this maddening drama to prepare to propose to Lily, she said yes without the ring and without any speech or anything! Lily never ceased to amaze him. And he couldn't wait to get back to Sirius to tell him this. As for Lily she had no idea why or when she had said 'yes'. It just slipped out of her mouth as if it was the most natural thing to do. But she didn't regret her decision. She had let her heart speak this time without her brain muddling with her thoughts and she had never felt this sure about something in her life as she was about marrying this boy who was sitting beside her with a goofy grin pasted on his face._

 _After around fifteen minutes of silence Lily spoke up._

 _"You know my friends always loved the idea of a guy going down on one knee and holding up a ring and making a big speech," she let the words hang in the air for some time and when she saw panic rising in James eyes she continued, "but I've always thought that an impromptu proposal is the most romantic way to propose a girl and actually I've always wished for it. Every year on my birthday." Lily said winking at the last statement._

 _"I guess then it was the birthday fairy that possessed my thoughts a while ago." James said making Lily laugh._

He smiled remembering the memory. He looked over at Lily but found both, Lily and Harry sleeping. Another thing that just won't end. Whenever it was Lily's turn to read to Harry she and Harry would end up sleeping in his bed and James will have to carry Lily back to their room. He looked at them sleeping together and they looked like Lily with a younger James. Really with Harry's eyes closed, he looked like a clone of James only a generation younger. James thought about another weird habit that Lily had developed in the two and a half years that they had been married. She would get up anytime in the night and look at James' sleeping form. Then she'd wake James up and wait for him to regain his senses. She would then just smile at him and tell him that she loves him and would make him wrap his arms around her and go back to sleep. Earlier James had been really intrigued by this but then after a week when this first happened it became a habit and some more time it became a habit with a fixed time when Lily would wake up look at him. But what Lily didn't know was that James would wake up before Lily did and would wait for her to complete her ritual and he had no intention of telling that to her.

He remembered all those times when Lily would patiently put up with Peter and Sirius messing up their house while trying to play with Harry. Harry's first word was "pada" to which Sirius claims that Harry loves him the most. But most of all it was Remus that Harry loved the company of. Sure Harry would play with Sirius day in and day out, but he would only stop crying if either Lily or Remus are near. James had tried a lot to shush him when he cries and so has Sirius but it was only Remus, of all the Marauders that Harry would listen to. Thanks to Peter, Harry never ran out of candies and chocolate. Sirius would visit them everyday, Remus almost everyday, and Peter at least thrice a week. Sirius had made Harry an additional Christmas gift which all of the Marauders had agreed to hide from Lily. It was Snape's look-alike doll. When Harry had first seen it, he had screamed his lungs out and refused to touch it.

"He is definitely your child Prongs."

Sirius had said and James had given him a smug face. After that Sirius charmed that doll to slap itself whenever Harry pointed his finger at it. And sure enough Harry learnt this little trick and it soon became his second favourite toy, only after his toy broomstick. But James and Sirius decided to keep the doll at Sirius' flat and would bring it over when Lily wouldn't be around. Sirius had last week proposed to Hestia and they would get married next month. James couldn't wait to see Sirius leading a married life. His flat was a mess and all one could find in his flat were either paperworks from the Ministry and the Order or food. But then again Lily said that Hestia lived in more or less the similar manner.

Lily had strictly prohibited swearing in front of Harry. It was a rule that Sirius has serious problems conforming with. He was never able to say a complete sentence in a flow whenever Harry was around. But to Lily it was more than a relief that at least he was trying to conform with this rule.

James and Sirius had already been planning on the pranks that they'd prepare for Harry to play. The first and the foremost was getting back the Marauders' Map from Flich's office. The last prank that they played cost them their dear map. And in the history of their pranks, he thought, their last prank was the only one that they regretted because they lost their map to Flich. And then they planned all the pranks that that Harry would pull off on the Halloween Feast and on the End of term feast.

Another thing other than his looks that Harry seemed to have picked up from James was his habit of running his hands through whatever hair he had on his head. When Lily first noticed it she kept laughing until James came back from Sirius' flat.

 _When James found Harry looking at his mother with a dumb face expression and Lily shaking on the floor with her back to him, he thought the worst of scenarios that could've happened. But then he slightly heard her giggle. Hesitantly, reached around and looked at her. There were tears rolling down her eyes but she was laughing uncontrollably. James let out an audible sigh. "Come on Lils don't keep it from me. What did my little carbon copy do this time?" James said giving Harry a wink. Harry seemed to relax at this and gave a nervous smile, after all he had seen his mother behave so weirdly for over an hour now. Although Lily didn't tell James straight away James too started laughing for no reason whatsoever. When Lily finally had enough breath to say it out loud, she managed to tell James. James didn't believe his ears at first. It seemed so impossible. And James refused to believe it. But James was becoming impatient with Lily laughing and he ran his hands through his hair and just then he saw Harry imitate his actions almost immediately and kept repeating it until James was down on the floor beside Lily laughing equally hard. As soon as he got back to his senses he owled Sirius, Remus and Peter, and sure enough within fifteen minutes all three of them were in their living room surrounding Harry, running their hands through their hair to make Harry mimic it but he would only do that if James would do it in front of him._

 _"Seems the only thing that Harry got from me were my eyes." Lily said to James later in that night after putting Harry to bed._

 _"Yeah .. but then again we can have a girl, who'll have my eyes and will be your clone and just as uptight as you are and would probably date Sirius' and Hestia's son. But I don't think I'll allow her to date Sirius' son."_

 _"James go back to sleep. We don't have a daughter as yet and Sirius' isn't even married."_

 _"Hey! A man, who also happens to be a potential father, can dream."_

By now James had a goofy grin on his face and shook himself out of his reverie. It was enough throwback for today. He looked over at the two most important people in his life. It was all so peaceful. He knew he'd do everything in his power to save these two. He didn't know what would he do without Lily. He thought he would never get over the death of his parents but it was Lily who pulled him out of his worst and dark time. She put up with his dark moods and the cuttingly cruel remarks that he had grown used to throwing at people who he thought were pitying him. But she didn't give up and made him see the light. She gave him Harry, another thing that he holds most dear to his heart. And Merlin knew how truly happy he was to see that Harry had inherited his mother's emerald orbs. Another thing that would never get old as long as he lived were Lily's eyes. They were enticing. There was no other word for it. They had haunted him since the first day he had seen them. As if on cue Lily's eyes fluttered open revealing those beautiful orbs. She saw James looking at her and felt colour rising in her cheeks. He had such gentle eyes that they seemed to be engulfing her with their warm stance. They didn't know how long had they been staring into the depths of each other's souls but as she looked into his eyes she was sure of one thing, that James would follow her even to the gates of hell and so would his haunting hazels.

 **A/N: Finally this fic comes to an end. To be honest I wanted this fic to end on The-Day-That-Must-Not-Be-Named but I didn't really had the heart to write about the death of my two favourite characters. So I ended it on some random day.**

 **padfootagain, Lara.x, Tauros1234, lojosmom - thank you for the reviews! love ya..  
Okay .. I don't really know what to write 'cause usualy i write the date of my next update but .. uh .. there won't be any updates on this fic now..and well I might write another fic and might post it by the end of June or may be mid-July ..  
And also if you guys know any good Jily fic or a Marauders fic plz do tell me .. PM me or leave it in the reviews, whichever you prefer.. because I have holidays now .. and I'm so so so BORED!**

 **Thank you! for favouriting or following this fic and bearing with my lithargic you for reading as always..Bye guys .. Love ya all xxxx**


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